John Alan Carr studied medicine at Durham University and King's College Hospital in London. He held posts at the Stockport Infirmary, the Grimsby and District General Hospital and St Peter's and St Paul's Hospitals in London. He was surgical registrar to the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne when he became a Fellow of the College in 1948. In 1952 he won the Moynihan Prize and Medal. He was appointed senior surgical registrar to the Royal Infirmary, Preston in the mid-1950's and then became senior surgical registrar to the Manchester Royal Infirmary. In the early 1960's he was appointed consultant surgeon to the Bury and Rossendale Hospital Group and held that post until he retired to Tiverton in Devon. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and the Manchester Medical Society and, at one time, held a travelling fellowship from the University of London. He is thought to have died sometime in 1983.