Richard Winckworth was born in Taunton, Somerset, on 17 January 1909, the eldest son of Wadham Bruce Winckworth, a general practitioner, and Dorothy Frances, née Hellard, a solicitor. He was educated at Hillbrow Preparatory School, Eastbourne, and Radley College, and completed his medical studies at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, where he qualified in 1932. After junior posts at St Thomas's Hospital and the Prince of Wales Hospital, Plymouth, he was appointed assistant surgeon at Taunton and Somerset Hospital in 1937. In 1947 he was appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Taunton and also to the South Somerset Clinical Area. His career in orthopaedics had been stimulated by Sir Max Page, Norman Capener and Kenneth Pridie, and he was a member of the British Orthopaedic Association. Apart from orthopaedics he also took a great interest in local government. He served as an alderman on Taunton Borough Council from 1951 to 1974, becoming Mayor in 1956, and chairman of the highways committee in 1959. He was elected to Somerset County Council in 1973. Other interests included cricket, rugby and philately, and he was also elected president of Taunton Rotary Club in 1951. He married twice, firstly in 1936 to Maureen Broadway, daughter of Dr Theo Broadway of Dorchester, who died in 1938 and by whom he had one daughter, Ruth. His second marriage was to Mary Curtis, an officer in the WRENS, in 1939, and they had two sons, Tony and Michael, and two daughters, Stephanie and Felicity. All three daughters became nurses. He died on 5 February 1996 in Taunton, aged 87.