Evan Arthur Williams was born in Wales on 11 April 1919 and after early education entered Guy's Hospital Medical School in 1937. He qualified in 1943 and almost immediately joined the Royal Army Medical Corps, serving in Italy where he was mentioned in despatches. After demobilisation in 1948 he returned to Guy's and passed the FRCS in the same year before going to Oxford as resident obstetric officer from 1948 to 1952. In 1950 he was awarded the Leverhulme Scholarship by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and two years later he passed the MRCOG. He then returned to Guy's for three years as senior registrar until 1955 when he was appointed first assistant to the Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Oxford and consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology at Banbury where he developed the service and planned the new maternity hospital in the town. In 1958 he returned to Wales as consultant at Newport, Monmouthshire, and during his eight year tenure of the post oversaw the planning and development of the obstetric and gynaecology unit at the Royal Gwent Hospital. In 1966 he returned to Oxford and within a short while became the chairman of the division of obstetrics and gynaecology, responsible for seeing the division established in the new John Radcliffe Hospital. He served as examiner to the Universities of Oxford, Glasgow and Cambridge and also examined for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and to the Central Midwives Board. From 1970 to 1975 he was an elected member of the General Medical Council serving on both the education committee and the disciplinary committee. He was assessor for confidential enquiries into maternal deaths, post-graduate adviser in obstetrics and gynaecology to the Oxford Region, a member of the education committee of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists from 1977 to 1981 and a member of Council of his College from 1981 to 1984. During his time in Wales he introduced the effective operation of vulvo-vaginoplasty for vaginal agenesis and developed this operation during the ensuing years. The technique and results were submitted in a Hunterian lecture delivered at Oxford before the Council of the College on 25 April 1975. He also developed a technique of anastomosis of the fallopian tubes over a nylon splint in patients with infertility problems and described the use of trans-fundal suprapubic cystoscopy in the investigation of urinary incontinence in women. His devoted patients sometimes expressed their gratitude in unusual ways: in one instance the problems of receiving a racehorse were only alleviated by the subsequent gift of grazing facilities! After retiring from hospital appointments in 1984 he continued to pursue his hobby of fly fishing on the Kennet and elsewhere. He died peacefully at home on 31 December 1990 and is survived by his wife Yvonne, children and grandchildren.