Aqeel Siddique was a consultant surgeon in Lesotho in Southern Africa. He was born in Baraut, Uttar Pradesh, India on 7 January 1935. His father, Mohammad Khalil Siddique, was a contractor; his mother was Amtul Siddique née Mannan. Siddique was the youngest child in the family and his father's death in 1952 influenced him to choose medicine as a career. His early education was at DJ (Digambar Jain) Inter College in Baraut, but due to the partition of India in 1947 his studies were interrupted. He was an intermediate student at JV (Janta Vedic) Inter College in Baraut, came first in his year and gained a bursary to Agra University. He completed a BSc in 1953 and went on to study medicine at King George's Medical College, Lucknow. He qualified MB BS in 1958 with a prize in the final examination in medicine. He held house officer posts at Irwin Hospital, New Delhi, from 1958 to 1960. He then went to Canada, where he was an intern and senior intern at Ottawa General Hospital. In 1963 he was a senior house officer in the casualty department in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for six months. Later in 1963 he went to the UK, where he was a senior house officer in thoracic surgery at Aintree Hospital, Liverpool. From 1964 to 1965 he was a senior house officer in general surgery at the Royal Infirmary in Hull. He then became a registrar at Bury General Hospital. In 1966 he gained his FRCS. From September 1969 he was a surgeon specialist to the Ministry of Health in Lesotho, initially on a 12-month placement. With his wife Nayyar, he carried out extensive charity work, which led to a friendship with Lesotho's royal family. He was awarded Lesotho's highest civilian honour, the Order of Mothlomi, and gained an OBE in 1973. In 2012 he retired from surgery and returned to the UK. In 1960 Aqeel Siddique married Nayyar Parveen, who became a fundraiser for the charity Save the Children in Lesotho. They had a daughter, Saima, and a son, Haroon. Tragically, their son found the couple in their garden in Thorpe Bay, Essex, on 15 July 2014. Siddique had died of a heart attack trying to get his wife out of their swimming pool. She had also had a heart attack. Aqeel Siddique was 79.