Peter MacFaul was a consultant ophthalmic surgeon in London. He was born on 17 April 1935 in Leigh, Lancashire, to Alexander MacFaul, a general practitioner, and Constance, a pharmacist. He had two elder siblings. The children initially had a governess for tuition at home, but then in September 1940 he began his formal education at Loretto Convent, Altrincham, and sang in the choir as a treble. In spite of illness at school, he had notable success: he was a member of several societies, played games and was awarded class medals. His medical education was at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, where he qualified in November 1959. He specialised in ophthalmology, lectured at the Institute of Ophthalmology, and in 1970 was appointed consultant ophthalmic surgeon to the Middlesex Hospital. He was also consultant ophthalmic surgeon to the Royal National Orthopaedic and Royal Marsden hospitals (from 1978), the latter appointment reflecting his great expertise in ocular tumours. Many of his colleagues relied on his help in this field. Later he was appointed honorary consultant ophthalmic surgeon to the Western Ophthalmic Hospital. He travelled abroad, lecturing in Essen, Bonn, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Munich, Barcelona, Madrid, Copenhagen and the American University in Beirut. In 1980 he was appointed regional consultant to the DHSS. Sadly his health deteriorated and he retired from active work in the NHS in October 1982, though he was well enough to accept invitations from the Royal Commonwealth Institute for the Blind to visit Gambia, Nairobi and Harare, to advise on ophthalmic provision in these countries. He married Rosamund Machray, a nurse, in May 1967. They had a daughter, Alexandra and twin sons, Andrew and George. His daughter works in hotel management and catering. Andrew is a civil servant and George a gastroenterologist. Gradually, his health became worse and he was cared for full-time in a home in Bognor Regis. He died on 14 June 2003 from chronic pulmonary disease.