The second of three sons of Henry William Cripps, QC, sometime Recorder of Lichfield, and Julia, the eldest daughter of Charles Lawrence and niece of Sir William Lawrence (qv). His eldest brother, Henry, was a prominent member of the Parliamentary Bar, and his younger brother was created Lord Parmoor. A bad attack of scarlet fever left Harrison Cripps a weakly boy for many years and unable to go to school. He was placed under the care of a private tutor, and encouraged to take open-air exercise. Perhaps it was then he developed a taste for 'shootin' and fishin'', as he used to call it, which lasted the length of his life. His connection with the Lawrence family brought him naturally to St Bartholomew's Hospital, which he entered about 1868 or 1869. Immediately after qualification in 1872 he became House Surgeon to Thomas Smith (qv). Later he was an Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Medical School, which post he held till 1879, when he was appointed Surgical Registrar. In 1882 he was elected Assistant Surgeon to St Bartholomew's Hospital, having previously contested an election in which he was beaten by W J Walsham (qv). From 1880 to 1890 he served as Surgeon to the Great Northern Hospital and the Royal Free Hospital, but the bulk of his work was done at St Bartholomew's. In 1876 he gained the Jacksonian Prize of the Royal College of Surgeons for his essay on "The Treatment of Cancer of the Rectum, particularly as regards the possibility of Curing or Relieving the Patient by Excision of the Affected Part". This essay marked Cripps as a coming man, and he made his name as a rectal specialist, an abdominal surgeon, and a teacher. He attained the zenith of his fame both as an operator and as a teacher during the long period of twenty years for which he was Assistant Surgeon. He was at his best in the out-patient room, where twice a week he held a class, in which the students sat round him in a ring - and woe betide the man who was late! Thirty years have scarcely dimmed the memory of those classes, in which Cripps taught with dogmatism, enlivened by caustic wit and shrewd thrusts. The capacity he had for saying sharp and clever things often gave offence, and earned for him a reputation for cynicism which was hardly deserved. Cripps was a man who liked not to let his left hand know what his right hand did, and his alms were in secret. In 1892, while still an Assistant Surgeon, he was appointed Surgeon to the Gynaecological Wards, then under the charge of Sir Francis Champneys, who did not undertake abdominal operations. This work was dear to Cripps's heart, and he appeared to prefer it to his general surgical work. As a rectal surgeon credit is due to Cripps for his advocacy of colostomy, both as a palliative and as a preliminary measure to the extensive perineal and trans-sacral excision of the rectum which he favoured. As an operator he was quick, neat, and clean, and for many years he was the only surgeon at his hospital who made a complete change of clothes before operating. In January, 1902, he was elected Surgeon to St Bartholomew's Hospital on the retirement of Alfred Willett (qv). His long service in the out-patient room may have exhausted his energies, for though he did his routine work, it cannot be said that, as a full Surgeon, he increased the reputation he had already made. He retired in 1909, when he was elected Consulting Surgeon and a Governor of the Hospital. He was elected to the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1909, served as a Member till 1920, and was Vice-President in 1918 and 1919. He served on the Finance Committee, where his business acumen was of great assistance, for he took an active part in the negotiations which led to the transference of the Examination Hall from the Embankment to Queen's Square. His business capacity had already brought Cripps a considerable sum of money, for he realized early the capabilities of electrical enterprise and he bought founders' shares in the Metropolitan Electric Supply Company, of which he became Chairman. A considerable portion of this company was purchased by the St Marylebone Borough Council, and Cripps reaped the reward of his foresight. He lived for many years at 2 Stratford Place, W, and for some time rented Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott. In later years he bought a large estate at Glendarnel in Argyllshire, where he could get the sport he loved and where it gave him the greatest pleasure to entertain his friends. He married twice. His first wife was Blanche, daughter of Richard Potter, of Standish, Gloucestershire; she was one of nine sisters, one of whom married Lord Parmoor and one became Mrs Sidney Webb. By her he had three sons and two daughters. One son, Lawrence, entered the medical profession. His second wife was Signorina Julia Ravogli, a well-known Italian *prima donna*, who survived him. He died on November 8th, 1923, at his London residence, at the age of 73.