Sydney Roy Adlington was born in Sutton Manor near Ratford, Notts, the only son of George Adlington, a farmer and Mary Hannah Annie, née Fletcher. He was educated at Cheltenham College and Sheffield University where he qualified in medicine in 1937. He held appointments in professorial units at Sheffield Royal Infirmary and was surgical tutor and surgical first assistant to Sir Ernest Finch who greatly influenced his career. Adlington served as a temporary Lieutenant in the RAMC during the second world war and subsequently took his FRCS Ed in 1944. He moved to Cornwall where he was a consultant to the West Cornwall group of Hospitals and a visiting surgeon at St Michael's Hospital, Hayle. He was President of the South West Surgical Club and of the Cornwall Clinical Society. He took an active interest in local affairs and was a JP for the County of Cornwall. He enjoyed fishing, sailing and cricket. In 1941 Adlington married Patricia Rosamund Moxon who qualified in Sheffield MRCS, LRCP in 1942. They lived at Menwinnion, Mylkor, Falmouth and when he died on 9 March 1982 at the age of 69 he was survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter, who was a qualified SRN.