Ralph St Leger Brockman was born on 3 June 1889 and trained at Cambridge and St Bartholomew's, qualifying in 1912 with the Conjoint Diploma. During his student career he won several prizes and awards. After house appointments he served as a medical officer in the Royal Navy for five years. On his return he obtained the Cambridge qualification in 1919 and in rapid succession the English Fellowship in 1920 and the Cambridge mastership in 1922. He was appointed consultant surgeon to Sheffield Royal Infirmary in 1923, with duties at the Northern General Hospital and the Children's Hospital at Sheffield. In 1944 he was appointed as the first Professor of Surgery at Sheffield University and held this post until he retired in 1954. During his surgical career he was a Hunterian Professor, Arris and Gale lecturer, and Erasmus Wilson lecturer. He was a member of the Court of Examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons and also of the examiners in surgery at Cambridge. Brockman was an excellent surgeon in all respects. He was a rapid and precise operator, but was mainly respected by his students for teaching basic surgical facts and imparting the art of building on to these basics. His lectures and ward rounds were always well attended, and he drove his lessons home by anecdotes, personal cases, and also by any errors that he had committed. He was a somewhat shy and very sensitive man, gentle and courteous, but when necessary very firm and adamant. He was a devout Roman Catholic and leading member of the Catholic laity. He married Miss Estelle Wilson in 1915 and from this marriage there was a son and daughter. After the death of his first wife he married Mrs Eizabeth Ritchie. He died at Tunbridge Wells on 21 October 1975, aged 86.