Robert Sutherland Lawson was born in Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia, on 31 May 1908. His father was Sir Harry Sutherland Wightman Lawson, KCMG, Prime Minister of Victoria 1918-24. His mother was a distant relation of Sir James Clark, Physician to Queen Victoria. A younger brother, D F Lawson, is also FRCS. He was educated at Castlemaine High School, Scotch College, Melbourne, Ormond College, University of Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He was awarded exhibitions in natural philosophy and physiology. He qualified MB BS Melbourne in 1931, MS in 1935 and obtained the FRCS in 1938 and the FRACS in 1940. He served with the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps 1940-46 in Palestine, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Borneo with the rank of Colonel. He was leader of a surgical team in Victoria in 1967 and was appointed honorary surgeon to the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, in 1946, serving until he retired as consulting surgeon in 1968. He was Chairman of the Victoria State Committee, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons 1962 and President of the Australian Medical Association (Victorian Branch) 1967. He delivered the Hamilton Russell Lecture in 1963 and the 9th Gordon-Taylor Lecture in 1972. He was associate editor of the *Australian and New Zealand journal of surgery* and contributed articles on peptic ulcer and lingual thyroid. He played cricket and tennis. In 1939 he married Marjory Banks and they had four sons and one daughter. The eldest son became FRCS in 1970 and the third is also a doctor. He died on 31 July 1977, aged 69 years.