Peter Blaxter was a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital. He was born in Highbury, London, on 17 February 1918, the son of Augustus Pierce Llewellyn Blaxter, a chemical engineer, and Enid, née Lewis, daughter of the Rev H E Lewis, Arch Druid of Wales. He was educated at Elstree School in Hertfordshire, Tonbridge, and St John's College, Cambridge. He received his clinical training at Guy's Hospital, where he qualified in 1943. After junior appointments, he served in the RAMC, as medical officer to the North Irish Horse in Italy. On returning to England, he became a senior registrar in the ophthalmic department at Guy's, and then did a full training at Moorfields. In 1954 he was appointed consultant to the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital. He acknowledged his debt to the training he received from T K Lyle, Sir Alan Goldsmith and E F King. He developed a special interest in glaucoma, on which he wrote many articles. From 1954 until 1983 he was a lecturer in ophthalmology at the University of Manchester. He was President of the North of England Ophthalmic Society in 1971, vice-president of his section of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1970, and a member of the Court of Examiners for the FRCS Ophth from 1966 to 1972. In 1941 he married Patricia (née Barr) and they had three children, two sons, John and William, and a daughter, Philippa, who became a doctor. He was a keen fisherman and sailor. He died on 3 May 1997.