William Burnett was born in London on 14 March 1906 and received his medical education at University College Hospital. As a student he won exhibitions in pathology and biology. After qualification in 1929 he took resident appointments at Portsmouth Hospital, and then settled in general practice at Rochester, Kent, where he stayed for five years. While in Kent he became interested in obstetrics and gynaecology, and in 1938 left general practice to join the obstetric and gynaecological unit at Southend Municipal Hospital, Essex; while working there he took his MRCOG in 1940. In 1941 Burnett moved to Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport, as deputy superintendent with charge of the Obstetric and Gynaecological unit. Two years later he was appointed to the staff of the West Middlesex Hospital and remained there until his death. While at the West Middlesex he worked closely with David Stern and together they made many contributions to the literature of their subjects, including their well known text book *Modern practice of obstetrics*. Clifford Burnett will be best remembered for his outstanding ability as a teacher and lecturer. For some time he used to teach at the West London Hospital Medical School but when that closed he carried on postgraduate teaching with great success at the West Middlesex. Burnett was a member of the Council of the Royal College of Midwives, a lecturer at the College and a member of the editorial staff of the *Midwives chronicle*. He was also on the examination committee of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and he examined many times for the University of Khartoum from 1955 onwards. Though Burnett reached the retiring age early in 1971 he was still very active and hoped to obtain a post at one of the newer commonwealth schools where so many of his former students worked; but he died suddenly when he was about to start a teaching round at the West Middlesex on 20 November 1971. He was survived by his second wife and the daughter of his first marriage. His widow died three weeks after Burnett's death.