Douglas John Batterham was born on 18 November 1894, the son of John Williams Batterham, FRCS, of St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex. He was educated at Aldenham School and Caius College, Cambridge, where he took the BA in 1915. He then went to St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he qualified with the Conjoint Diploma in 1917, and graduated MB MChir in 1923; he took the FRCS in the same year. During the first world war he served in France with the Friends' Ambulance, and from 1918 to 1922 was a Captain in the RAMC in Mesopotamia and India. After a period at Milbank he was posted to Cologne as a surgical specialist in 1924, and later served in India and Burma, where he was attached to the Indian Medical Service until 1928. In 1929 he joined Dr Edgar Haydon in practice at Newton Abbot, Devonshire, and was subsequently appointed honorary surgeon to Newton Abbot Hospital. From the outbreak of the second world war he served with the rank of Major as a surgical specialist in France, Northern Ireland, and West Africa. He was invalided home in 1943 on account of recurrent malaria and returned to his practice in Newton Abbot. Douglas Batterham was a delightful colleague whose experience was readily shared with all his colleagues. He was largely responsible for the excellent surgery carried out at Newton Abbot Hospital, which possessed a considerable quantity of radium, so that many cases in the West Country were sent for treatment by him. On account of indifferent health, he retired at the early age of 59. When in India and Burma he was an enthusiastic polo player, greatly enjoyed golf, and was a more than average tennis player. He was also a keen fisherman, and spent many happy hours fishing with his elder son, who practised in his neighbourhood. He took great pleasure in gardening; and his lovely garden was at all seasons a blaze of colour. He was a regular supporter of the local rugby football club, a member of the British Legion, and the Torbay Medical Society. He was Chairman of the Torquay Division of the British Medical Association in 1937-8. He was remembered by many friends for his generosity, patience, courtesy, good humour and cheerfulness, and as a reconteur he was unsurpassed. He was a man of strong religious conviction. In 1924 he married Ethel Thelma Rundle, daughter of Dr F C Rundle, of Rolvenden, Kent, who survived him with their two sons and two daughters. He died in hospital on 11 August 1968 aged 73.