Douglas Arthur Langley was a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at the Royal Northern and Whittington hospitals in London. He was born on 18 April 1917 at Woolwich, London, to Arthur Langley, an Army officer, and Laura Elizabeth née Webber. He was educated at Cottingham College, Plumstead, and Woolwich County Secondary School and received his medical education at King’s College and St George’s Hospital. There he won the Johnson prize in anatomy, the Pollock prize in physiology and the Anne Selim scholarship. During the Second World War he served in the RNVR as a surgeon lieutenant. After leaving the Navy, he began his training in ophthalmic surgery and worked as resident surgical officer at Moorfield’s Eye Hospital, before his appointment as consultant ophthalmic surgeon to the Royal Northern Hospital, the Whittington Hospital and the West End Hospital for Neurology. He was particularly interested in glaucoma and held annual meetings for north London opticians at the Royal Northern Hospital. His interests were varied: he had a private pilot’s licence, was a keen yachtsman and navigator, a skilled pianist and cabinet maker, and loved watching football. He married twice. In 1942 he married Myrtle Chinnery, an old school friend. They had two sons and a daughter. His second wife was Yvonne Patricia Peterson, a nurse, by whom he had a son. His health in latter years was poor and he underwent repair of an aortic aneurysm. He died on 16 June 2002.