Robert Henderson was born in Lucknow on 23 December 1916, the son of Selby Herriot Henderson IMS and Ruby, née Wells, whose father was a survivor of the siege of the Residency in Lucknow during the Indian Mutiny. He qualified from St Bartholomew's Hospital and did junior posts at the Birmingham Accident Hospital before joining the RAF in which he served until the end of the war, returning to specialise in orthopaedics before emigrating to Canada where he was appointed Chief of the orthopaedic department of the Royal Alexandra Hospital Edmonton, Alberta, in 1956. He enjoyed skiing, sailing, ornithology, photography, painting and writing. He married Barbara, née Soper, in 1948. They had two sons and two daughters, and when he died on 17 December 1991 he was survived by his wife and four children, John, Annette, Susan and Rob.