Born 12 November 1866 at Neath, Glamorgan, fifth child and third son of Alfred Curtis, solicitor, and Hannah Davies, his wife. Alfred Curtis was town clerk of Neath and clerk to the borough and county justices from 1866 to 1886. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School, at University College, London, and at University College Hospital, where he served as surgical registrar, and was also director of the bacteriological department and assistant to the professor of pathology at University College, Sidney Martin, FRCP. He had served his house appointments at University College Hospital, and acted as clinical assistant at the Throat and Ear Hospital in Golden Square and at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children. Curtis spent some years in South Africa, where he was resident surgeon to Bulawayo Hospital and director of the Pasteur Institute of Rhodesia. Returning to London, he was elected to the staff of the Metropolitan Hospital, where he ultimately became consulting surgeon. During the war of 1914-18 he served as surgeon at the Enfield Military Hospital and at the Brook Street Hospital for facial injuries. Curtis married in 1907 Lady Stanley, widow of the famous explorer, the discoverer of Livingstone, Sir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB (1841-1904). She was Dorothy Tennant, second daughter of Charles Tennant of Cadoxton, Glamorgan, sometime MP for St Albans, and was already known as an artist at the time of her first marriage in 1890. Curtis practised at 30 Harley Street, but after his marriage settled in White Court and shared to the full the cultivated social life of which his wife was the centre. Lady Stanley died in 1926, and Curtis then moved to chambers at 1 Dr Johnson's Buildings, Inner Temple. There were no children. Curtis was a conscientious and meticulous surgeon. Small and neat in appearance, he hid his varied abilities under a quiet, modest manner. He had travelled much and was an excellent teacher. In early life he was a considerable contributor to the professional journals of bacteriology, pathology, and clinical surgery. In his later years he was frequent reader in the College library and from time to time presented books for the historical collections. He died at University College Hospital on 16 February 1944. Publications:- Broca and Lubet-Barbon *Mastoid abscesses*, translated. London, 1897. *The essentials of practical bacteriology*. London, 1900.