T. T. Jeans was a doctor and a decorated British Naval officer who turned some of his experiences into boy's adventure novels. He set out to write juvenile fiction that accurately portrayed life in the Royal Navy. Jeans was born on 19 January 1871 in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, and baptized on March 27, 1871. His parents were Thomas Mark Jeans (1842-1902), a Crown Surveyor of Taxes, and Elizabeth Ellen Filer, a merchant's daughter, who married in Croydon on February 12, 1867. Jeans was educated at Manchester Grammar School. He matriculated from there in January 1888. He studied medicine at Owens College, a regional associate of the University of London, and the Manchester Royal Infirmary. He finished his preliminary science degree at Owens in July 1889, and his intermediate medicine course at Owens and the Royal Infirmary in July 1891. The 1891 census shows him as a medical student living with his parents at 10 Mayfield Road, Withington, Manchester. He completed his degree course in 1893, becoming a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians on July 24, 1893, and receiving his degree from the University of London in October 1893.