John Crossley was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Southmead Hospital, Bristol. He was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, the son of Walter Crossley, a manufacturer of bedding ware, and Annie Crossley née Burniston, a housewife. He was educated at Blackburn Grammar School and then Repton. He went on to study medicine at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and Guy's Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1947. He remembered fire-watching on the roof of the hospital during his time as a medical student during the war. He held preregistration posts at Guy's, and was then a house surgeon at Addenbrooke's Hospital. He was a demonstrator in anatomy at Cambridge and at Guy's. Deciding on a career in obstetrics and gynaecology, he was a resident obstetric officer at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital for Women, and then a registrar at Churchill Hospital, the Radcliffe Infirmary and Stoke Mandeville Hospital. From 1955 to 1957 he was a senior registrar at St Thomas' Hospital. In 1957 he was appointed as a consultant at Southmead Hospital. He was an examiner for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and also in Khartoum, Sudan. He was an active member, and often secretary and president, of many local medical societies, including the Medical Reading Society of Bristol. Outside medicine, he had many interests. He worked in wood. He sang in various choirs, including the Thornbury Choral Society, the local church choir and in an a cappella group, and played the accordion. He was a skilled artist and exhibited his work with local art societies. He fished and played golf and, with his wife, created a large garden. He cycled and canoed and travelled extensively, including with the Gynaecological Travellers Club. After an extremely busy professional life, he enjoyed, in his own words, 'an equally hectic retirement'. In 1955 he married Gillian ('Gill') Tarnoky née Shelton, whom he met when they were both working at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. They had three children - Nicholas, Alison and Michael. John Crossley died on 18 February 2012 after a short illness. He was 88.