Sir John Hobbis Harris was born on July 29, 1874, in Wantage, Berkshire, England.

He was an English missionary, an anti-slavery campaigner, and a Liberal Party politician. In 1895, he worked in London for Cooks, the gentlemen's outfitters. As a devout Christian, he began to train to become a Baptist missionary in Central Africa and together with his wife, he sailed for the Congo Free State in 1898. They were soon horrified by the brutal treatment, murder, and enslavement of the native people at the hands of the Belgian agents exploiting the territory for rubber and ivory. To protest the colonial system in Africa, Harris and his wife became active campaigners, travelling and giving lectures at hundreds of public meetings in Britain, Europe, and the United States. Harris published the pamphlet "Rubber is Death: the Story of the Bonguronga Rubber Collectors" (1905) and contributed numerous articles to Anti-Slavery Reporter and Aborigines' Friend. He became a political crusader against white capitalist imperialism in general, advocating a system of genuine, international trusteeship in the interests of all native peoples on every continent. He served as secretary to the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society (1910-1940) and a Liberal Member of Parliament (1923-1924). Harris was knighted in the New Year Honours list of 1933 for his services to the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society.

In 1898, he married Alice Seeley (1870–1970). He died on April 30, 1940, in Frome, Somerset, England.

Philip John Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker, was born on November 1, 1889, in London, England.

He was a British Labour politician, educator, and Nobel prizewinner. He was educated at Bootham School, York, Haverford College, Pennsylvania, and King's College, Cambridge (1910–1912). He was president of the Cambridge Union and the Cambridge University Athletic Club. He participated in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics (1500 meters) and won a silver medal at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. In 1914, he was appointed as vice-principal of Ruskin College, Oxford, and in 1915, he was elected a Fellow at King's College, Cambridge. During World War I, Noel-Baker organized and led the Friends' Ambulance Unit attached to the fighting front in France (1914-1915) and the First British Ambulance Unit for Italy (1915-1918), for which he received military medals from France, Italy, and Britain. After the war, he was closely involved in the formation of the League of Nations. Noel-Baker became the first Sir Ernest Cassel Professor of International Relations at the University of London (1924-1929) and a lecturer at Yale University (1933-1934). His political career with the Labour Party began in 1924 when he stood, unsuccessfully, for Parliament. He was elected as a member for Coventry in 1929 but lost his seat in 1931. In 1936, Noel-Baker won a by-election in Derby; when that seat divided in 1950, he transferred to Derby South and continued until 1970. He served as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (1942), Secretary of State for Air (1946), and Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations (1947). In the mid-1940s, Noel-Baker served on the British delegation to the future United Nations, helping to draft its charter and other rules for operation. He served as Chairman of the Labour Party (1946–1947). An advocate of multilateral nuclear disarmament, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1959. He was president of the International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education from 1960 to 1976. In 1977, he was raised to the peerage of Baron Noel-Baker of the City of Derby.

In 1915, he married Irene Noel (1879–1956). His mistress from 1936 to 1956 was Lady Megan Lloyd George (1902–1966). He died on October 8, 1982, in London, England.

Charles Roden Buxton was born on November 27, 1875, in London, England.

He was a British Liberal Party politician, philanthropist, and author. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1897, he went to South Australia to act briefly as Private Secretary to his father Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton (1837-1915), Governor of South Australia. He visited India, Malaya, Japan, China and spent six months on a cattle ranch in Texas before returning to London. In 1902, he was called to the Bar at Inner Temple. From 1902 to 1919, Buxton served as Principal of Morley College in London. He was the first president of the South London Branch of the Workers' Educational Association and the editor of the Albany Review (1906-1908). He entered politics as a Member of Parliament for Ashburton (1910-1911). In 1914, Buxton went on an unofficial mission to the Balkans with his brother Edward. While in Bucharest, Romania, an assassination attempt was made on them by Turkish activist Hasan Tahsin. In 1917, he left the Liberal Party and joined the Independent Labour Party. As secretary to the Labour Party's delegation to the Soviet Union in 1920, he was very impressed by what he saw and wrote a book, “In A Russian Village” (1922). He served as Labour Member of Parliament for the Accrington (1922-1923) and Elland (1929-1931) constituencies. In 1926, he was appointed Parliamentary Adviser to the Labour Party, a post he held until his resignation in 1939. His wife co-founded the international charity and movement Save the Children. In 1914, Buxton co-founded the Union of Democratic Control to promote peace by negotiation. From this time until he died in 1942, he worked unremittingly for peace and the equitable distribution of the world's land and resources. He showed particular interest in the rights of Indigenous people of Africa and travelled widely on the continent. Another of his interests was Esperanto, becoming president of the international society of Quaker Esperantists.

In 1904, he married Dorothy Frances Jebb (1881–1963). He died on December 16, 1942, in Peaslake, Surrey, England.