Born in Sunderland on 19 April 1891, son of a pharmaceutical chemist, he received his medical education at the University of Durham graduating in 1912. He then held house appointments at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle. In 1914 he joined the RAMC and served as a surgical specialist in Greece. After the war he returned to postgraduate study in Newcastle, and in 1920 was appointed assistant surgeon at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, becoming full surgeon in 1929 and retiring in 1956. He was also surgeon to the Ingham Infirmary, South Shields. In 1954 he was given a personal chair and in 1956 created emeritus professor on retirement. He played a great part in the establishment of the whole-time chair of surgery in Newcastle. In 1957 he was president of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, having been president of the North of England branch of the BMA in 1937-38 and of the Newcastle and Northern Medical Society. After retiring he became adviser in surgery to the Newcastle Regional Hospital Board. A modest, kindly man, he had a boyish manner and humorous approach to life. He married first Bessie Mellowdew of Oldham, who died in 1943 leaving two daughters and a son, and secondly in 1945 Violet Ann Dixon of Tynemouth. He died in Newcastle on 30 August 1963 aged 72.