Franklyn Gilbert Bell (known as 'Frank') was an orthopaedic surgeon in Fremantle, Western Australia. He was born in Perth, also in Western Australia, the third of five children of Albany Maston Bell, a business proprietor, and Elizabeth Chisholm Bell née Gilbert. He was educated at Perth Modern School, from which he graduated with honours in all subjects. Despite being told that medicine wasn't for him, he went on to the University of Western Australia and then, because this was the era before the medical school at Perth, to Adelaide University. He graduated with honours at Adelaide and with the prize in ophthalmology. He held junior posts in Adelaide and Perth, and then spent six months as a country GP before deciding on orthopaedics and sitting the primary fellowship. He went on to work in the UK at Sheffield Royal Infirmary and Sheffield Children's Hospital, then at Harlow Wood Orthopaedic Hospital. He gained his FRCS in 1955 and was introduced to bloodless surgery while working at the Royal Marsden Hospital. In 1958 Frank returned to Perth, gained the FRACS and was appointed as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Fremantle Hospital, where he worked for 33 years; this was his major legacy. He worked briefly at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and carried out private work at Kaleeya Hospital in East Fremantle, where he was instrumental in setting up Australia's first dedicated centre for bloodless surgery. Frank retired from Fremantle Hospital in 1991, then continued in private practice and mainly medico-legal work until fully retiring in 2004. From childhood days, Frank always enjoyed using his hands and spent most weekends on his farm at Kalannie then Bullsbrook, raising cattle and improving on farm implements. He was a no nonsense leader of orthopaedics in Western Australia, chairman of the Western Australian branch of the Australian Orthopaedic Association and a member of most medical committees at various times. As a mentor and teacher, Frank was at his best and the current senior orthopaedic surgeons in Western Australia revere their trainer and his training. Frank's patients in the early days were post-war migrants, market gardeners or fishermen, and payments for service were often in kind. In 1962 he married Margaret Ann Campbell. She predeceased him in 2005 and Frank died peacefully on 10 September 2012, aged 86. He was survived by their children Jane, Robert and Kathryn, and two grandchildren.