There are no details of John Francis Edward Gillam's date of birth, family, education or early medical appointments. He qualified from St Thomas's Hospital in 1925 and took the FRCS four years later. In 1931 he moved to a general practice partnership at Haverfordwest where he also practised surgery.

John Henry Milnes Walker was born on 16 March 1902 in Wakefield, the son of John William Walker and his wife Constance Elizabeth, née Holdsworth. His father and grandfather had both been surgeons on the staff of Clayton Hospital and his wife's father had been a physician there. He was educated at Ou