Charles Gordon Scorer was born in Lincoln on 4 September 1912, the fourth child and first son of Charles Reynolds Scorer, a solicitor. He was educated at Seacroft Preparatory School, Skegness, Repton School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He qualified from the London Hospital in 1937, being appointed house surgeon there and then at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. After appointment as a medical officer at Hillingdon Hospital he applied for service with the China Inland Mission but was not accepted due to the imminence of the second world war. During that war he served in the RNVR, ultimately with the rank of Lieutenant-Commander, and was awarded the MBE after his hospital ship came under heavy bombardment. After the war he returned to Hillingdon as a surgeon in 1947 and passed the Final Fellowship in the following year, being appointed consultant at the inception of the NHS. He had an excellent reputation as a general surgeon with a special interest in genito-urinary work. He was later appointed to the staff of the Southall-Norwood Hospital and became MD in 1955. He had a meticulous surgical technique and made a special point of getting to know his patients personally. His published surgical papers were mainly concerned with genito-urinary surgery, the treatment of congenital hydronephrosis and retention, and the mortality of prostatectomy, but it was his work on the descent of the testis which earned him an international reputation. His careful study of large numbers of newborn infants and an unusually wide experience of operations on the undescended testis culminated in his book, *Congenital deformities of the testis and epididymis* (written with G H Farrington, FRCS), published in 1971. He was also deeply concerned with medical ethics on which he wrote many articles. For some years he was editor of the *Christian graduate* and he was a gifted and lucid speaker, especially at meetings of the Christian Medical Fellowship. He was also joint editor of *Medical ethics for students*, published in 1961, and on *Ethical responsibility in medicine* (1967). After retirement in 1976 he undertook medical tribunals for the DHSS. Charles Scorer married Jean Kemsley, formerly a nurse, in 1943, they had two sons, one of whom is a physician, and a daughter. In a notably balanced life he was recognised to have given devoted service to his hospital, his family and his church. He died on 8 September 1981 and was survived by his wife and children.