was the only son of Joseph Florey, a bootmaker from Oxfordshire in England, who as a boy moved to London where Florey's grandfather established a bootmaking business. Joseph Florey's first wife was Charlotte Ames, with whom he had two daughters, Charlotte, who was born in 1880, and Anne, who was born in 1882. After his wife contracted pulmonary tuberculosis, the family emigrated to South Australia, where it was hoped that the climate would be more congenial. She slowly declined and died in April 1886. Joseph Florey established his own bootmaking business in Adelaide, and married Berth Mary Waldham, the daughter of his housekeeper. Their first child together, Hilda, was born in 1891. She later became a bacteriologist and a pioneer of laboratory medicine. A second daughter, Valetta, was born in 1892. Thus, Florey had two older sisters and two older half-sisters. In 1906, the family moved to Coreega, a mansion in the Adelaide suburb of Mitcham. Florey attended Unley Park School, a local private school, taking the trip to school each day in a horse-drawn tram with Mollie Clampett, a friend who lived in the rectory adjacent to Coreega. At school he acquired the lifelong nickname "Floss", this being, like "Florrie", a common diminutive form of "Florence". He transferred to Kyre College, a private boys' school, in 1908. In 1911 he entered St Peter's College, Adelaide where he excelled in chemistry, physics, mathematics and history. He played various sports for the school: cricket, Australian football, tennis, and track and field athletics as a sprinter and high jumper. The cost of his education was covered by four scholarships. He served in the Senior Cadets, in which he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in August 1916. After the First World War broke out in 1914, he wished to enlist, but parental permission was required and was not forthcoming. He was head boy in his final year at school, and was ranked twelfth in the state in his final examinations. Rather than become a business man like his father, Florey elected to follow in the footsteps of his sister, who studied medicine. He entered the University of Adelaide in March 1917, his fees paid entirely by a state scholarship. This was fortunate; his father died from a heart attack on 15 September 1918, and his shoe company was found to be insolvent and went into liquidation. Coreega and other properties had to