Professor Ismail Jacob (Josef) Mohamed was born on 27 July 1930 in Barkley East, Eastern Cape. His parents divorced before he was five years old. His mother, Rose Fortuin, brought him up. She christened him Ismail Jacobus but at school, he was known as Ismail Mohamed, the name on his birth certificate and to his family and friends as Josef.

John (Jack) Curtis was born on 31 August 1912 in Geelong, Australia, the third of nine children. He left school at 14 to start work and help provide for the family. His father lost his job at the onset of the Great Depression. With the family in financial difficulty, Curtis left Australia in 1930 for South Africa to work as a tea packer in an uncle's business, sending money home to help his family in their need. He was just 18.

Walter Ernest Mortimer Stanford was born on 2 August 1850 in Alice. His grandparents were part of the 1820 settlers. His father, William Stanford was born in 1820 shortly after the arrival of the settlers; his mother was Mrs. William Wright a widow who had three children. The couple had three children, Robert, Walter and Arthur. When Stanford was six years old his father was killed in a riding accident. Subsequently, in 1857, he was sent to live with his uncle J.C. Warner, a missionary in charge of the mission at Glen Grey in Queenstown.

Jacobus Wilhelmus Sauer was born in 1850 at Burgersdorp in the Cape Colony. He did his education at the South African College in Cape Town. After completing his studies he became a solicitor and was also a farmer. Sauer was elected as a member of the Cape Parliament in 1874 representing Aliwal North.