 He later became a pro-life activist.Born in 1886, the only son of the Reverend W. C. Bourne in Barnet, Bourne was educated at Rydal School and at Downing College, Cambridge where, in 1908, he received a first class Natural Science Tripos.Granted a senior university scholarship, he entered St Mary's Hospital in 1908 and he qualified as an MRCS, LRCP in 1910.