Alan Falconer had a long and varied surgical career in the Royal Navy, practising initially as a general surgeon before training as an obstetrician and gynaecologist. After he left the Navy, he became a school doctor at Sedbergh School in Cumbria. He was born in Darlington on 2 June 1921, the eldest son of Dallas Scott and Isabelle Falconer. Alan's father was a GP surgeon in Darlington. He had obtained a classics scholarship to Edinburgh University, where he studied medicine, and trained as a surgeon, obtaining the FRCS (Edinburgh) in 1920. At the beginning of the NHS he was appointed as a consultant surgeon at Darlington Memorial and Bishop Auckland hospitals. Alan was sent to Sedbergh School in 1934, at that time in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The school had a lasting influence on his life and in particular fostered his passion for sport. Cricket was his first love and he represented the school as a wicket keeper. He went on to Peterhouse College, Cambridge, in 1939 to study natural sciences. In his third year he studied anatomy, focusing on the evolutionary development of the human hand. Although he enjoyed Cambridge and meeting highly talented students from other disciplines, Sedbergh always remained his most fondly remembered educational experience. Alan completed his medical training at St George's Hospital, London, which was then at Hyde Park Corner. There he met his wife Veronica (née Guise), who was training to become a nurse. Alan's undergraduate training and their courtship took place during the Blitz. As well as providing startling anecdotes, this gave Alan early experience of the management of trauma. He became an expert at performing venous 'cut downs' for blood transfusions using steel reusable cannulae. His postgraduate surgical training included posts at the Whittington Hospital. During his training he assisted (later Lord) Rodney Smith at the Victoria Hospital for Children in Tite Street, Chelsea. He obtained his FRCS in 1953. In the early fifties the costs of living in London and providing for a family of three children exceeded his NHS salary. This led to his decision to return to the Royal Navy, where he had undertaken his National Service, and take a commission as a surgical specialist. His naval career included posts in Ceylon and Malta, as well as a Far East tour on the commando carrier HMS *Bulwark*. In the sixties the Navy planned to develop an obstetric service in the United Kingdom. Alan was selected to train in obstetrics and gynaecology, with a view to leading the new service. He undertook busy training posts at St George's Hospital, London, and St Mary's Hospital, Portsmouth. He passed the membership examination of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1964 and was subsequently made a fellow of the college. He enjoyed using his surgical skills in his new specialty and also the intellectual challenges and decision making of intrapartum obstetrics. He was grateful for his surgical experience, which made him safely independent when faced with difficult gynaecological cases in theatre. However, he always demonstrated humility about his surgical prowess. He was well respected by his colleagues and patients. Sadly the Navy obstetric unit never materialised because of financial constraints, so Alan's obstetric posts were in civilian hospitals in Plymouth, in Malta (from 1968 to 1972) and finally with the RAF in Germany (from 1973 to 1976). He was a consultant adviser in obstetrics and gynaecology to the Royal Navy and also Queen's honorary surgeon. He achieved the rank of surgeon captain and was offered the post of surgeon rear admiral in the late seventies. Reluctant to sacrifice his love of clinical medicine for an essentially administrative post, he applied for the vacant post of school doctor at Sedbergh and left the Navy to return to his alma mater. Alan thoroughly enjoyed being back at Sedbergh. It allowed him to combine his medical skills with his love for sport, at which the school excelled. The final 10 years of his life were overshadowed by a severe head injury, which left him with significant physical and cognitive disabilities. He was nursed at home throughout this time by Veronica, even when they were both in their nineties. Veronica predeceased Alan in January 2013. Alan died peacefully of a stroke four months later on 2 May 2013, at the age of 91. Alan will be remembered for his surgical and obstetric skills, and for his wide knowledge of the classics, his encyclopedic knowledge of sport, his conviviality and his enjoyment of whisky, pipe smoking, fell-walking and the company of friends and family. He was survived by his four children (Jennifer Anne, Catherine Scott, John Hedley and Alastair Robert), one of whom qualified as a nurse and two as doctors.