Richard Rowlandson was born in India, the son of Edmund James who was serving in the Indian Police and a grandson of a judge in the Indian Civil Service. He was at school at Hurst Court in Hastings and later at Marlborough before starting his pre-clinical training at Clare College in Cambridge. At Guy's Hospital he continued his medical training where he qualified in 1939. He was much influenced by Sir Heneage Ogilvie and Lord Brock for whom he worked as a house surgeon before a registrar appointment with Hcdley Atkins. The war delayed his further training and he served in the Royal Navy as a Lieutenant Commander but after the successful FRCS examination in 1948 he developed his interest in chest surgery under Holmes Sellors at the London Chest hospital and Mr Ghey at Addenbrooke's in Cambridge. He was appointed consultant in chest surgery at the Brook Hospital and also had sessions at King Edward VII Hospital in Midhurst. Richard enjoyed skiing and summer mountaineering, and in 1948 he married Rosamund, the daughter of Dr Firth, a physician at King's College Hospital. They had a daughter and two sons, one of whom is at Guy's Hospital. He died on 15 September 1990.