Arthur Naylor was born in Hoyland, near Barnsley, on 28 September 1912, the son of Albert Naylor, a colliery underground manager, and Louisa Armitage, the daughter of a miner. He was educated at Barnsley Grammar School and did his medical education at Sheffield, where he obtained first class honours in his BSc. He was a house surgeon, a senior casualty officer and deputy RSO at Sheffield Royal Hospital for two years. He then worked in general practice from 1939 to 1940, before becoming resident surgeon at the Westwood Emergency Medical Service Hospital, Bradford, where he remained for the duration of the war. He was appointed as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in 1945. He was an Hunterian Professor in 1951, Arris and Gale lecturer in 1961, and visiting professor to the South African Bureau of Mines in 1975, and to Brasilia in 1982. He wrote many papers on accident services and injuries of the spine. In his spare time he enjoyed Rugby football, cricket and painting. In 1938 he married Kathleen Mary Eagle, who died in 1956. In 1958 he married for a second time, to Cynthia Margaret Holling. He had two sons, Anthony and Tim, the eldest being a consultant radiologist in Texas. There are four grandchildren - Marco, Alexis, Natasha and Aysen. He died on 2 December 1999.