Air Commodore Robert William Povey was an orthopaedic surgeon in the Royal Air Force. He was born on 11 April 1921, the son of Henry John Povey, an optician, and Jane Dorothy Povey née Reid. He was educated at Poole Grammar School in Dorset, where he was house captain, school prefect and head boy and gained a Dorset senior county scholarship. He went on to study medicine at Westminster Hospital Medical School, where he won class prizes in medicine and forensic medicine. He qualified in 1945. Prior to joining the RAF, he was a house surgeon and then a senior resident and casualty officer at the Westminster Hospital. He was subsequently a registrar and senior registrar at Lord Mayor Treloar Orthopaedic Hospital. He also served as a captain in the RAMC and was Cade Professor of Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons. Outside medicine he enjoyed gardening, fishing, travelling and natural history. In 1950 he married Patricia Dorothy Jeanette Wolly, known as 'Pat'. They had two sons, John and David. Predeceased by his wife, he died on 22 January 2014 at the age of 92.