Clifford Brewer was for many years the senior consultant surgeon at the Liverpool Royal Infirmary. He was born on 29 April 1913, the second son of Oscar John Brewer, inspector of education in the city of Liverpool, and Marian Brewer née Almond. He attended Quarry Bank School and then went to Liverpool University to study medicine. He graduated in 1935 with honours, having had an exceptional career as a student. He obtained a unique collection of university medals and prizes, including the Mitchell Banks medal in anatomy, the Holt medal in physiology, the Torr gold medal in anatomy, the Rankin exhibition in anatomy, the Kanthack medal in pathology, the university medal in pharmacology, the A C Rich prize in medicine, the gold medal in gynaecology and obstetrics, and the university gold medal in surgery. As a student, he was a gifted after-dinner speaker and represented Liverpool medical students in many other cities. Following graduation, he held the usual house appointments at the Liverpool Royal and was then awarded a Rankin exhibition in anatomy, doing anatomical teaching and research. He became surgical registrar to Robert Kelly and senior surgical tutor at the Royal Infirmary. He obtained his FRCS in 1938. Brewer then moved to Oxford as a resident surgical officer at the Radcliffe Infirmary, a post combined with that of surgical tutor to the University of Oxford. The new Nuffield appointments had just been made at the Radcliffe. In 1939, he was awarded a Leverhulme fellowship at the Royal College of Surgeons, an appointment which he was unable to take up as he was an officer in the Territorial Army on the staff of the 6th (1st Southern) Oxford Territorial Hospital. This hospital was mobilised at the outbreak of the Second World War and was stationed at Lincoln College and the Examination Schools. The hospital was chased out of France at Dunkirk, returning to Oxford. He then saw service in Palestine, Egypt and Syria, being transferred to a field surgical unit. This saw service in France, Normandy and Belgium, after which he became an officer in charge of a surgical division. He was demobilised in 1945 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. While working in Palestine he had operated on General Wladyslaw Sikorski, the commander-in-chief of the Polish Armed Forces, who invested him with the Order of Polonia Restituta. This allowed him to place the letters 'PR' after his name, a useful distinction for a rectal surgeon. Following the war, he returned to Liverpool as a lecturer in surgery and clinical assistant to the new professor of surgery, Charles Wells. He was appointed as a consultant surgeon to the Royal Infirmary in 1946. He was also appointed as a consultant surgeon to the Liverpool Homeopathic Hospital and to St Helens Hospital, and as a clinical lecturer in surgery to the University of Liverpool and lecturer in surgery to the Liverpool Dental School. He always enjoyed his association with the dental school and he continued to be lecturer in surgery to dental students until his retirement in 1978. He was appointed as an examiner in surgery to the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1949, an appointment which he held intermittently until 1970. He was an examiner in surgery to the University of Liverpool and to several other universities. His surgical interest centred on 'busts and bottoms' - breast surgery and rectal work being his forte. He was one of the first to do adrenalectomies in the treatment of advanced malignancy and he developed a breast clinic at the Royal Infirmary. His interest in breast work was responsible for his becoming a fellow of the International College of Surgeons as he was particularly interested in the many continental surgical breast clinics. He served on the usual host of committees, which multiplied and developed over the years, including the Liverpool board of governors, Liverpool regional hospital board, the hospital board of St Helens medical district, Liverpool regional consultants and specialists' committee, the management committee of the Liverpool Radium Institute and of the medical faculty of Liverpool University etc. He was, however, not a committee man, taking no real pleasure from increased time spent in such work. Following his military service, his hearing became impaired and this also made committee work difficult. Brewer served on the council of the Liverpool Medical Institution, but his great interest was in the Liverpool University Club, which included all university departments. This club had been founded in 1884, shortly after the foundation of the university, and had grown and developed as the university increased in size. He played a very active part in the club's activities and it was here that his ability as a speaker fully developed. He was made president of the club in 1968. He was also a member of the Athenaeum Club, serving on many of their committees, having a very special interest in the library. As a member of the library committee he was largely instrumental in helping this club to financial stability by selling books from the library, always a most difficult decision for any club to make. Clifford's interests other than surgical were most diverse. He had a lifelong interest in all matters horological and he collected a very extensive collection of antique clocks. He wrote a *The Country Life collector's pocket book of clocks* (Middlesex, Country Life Books, 1983). He contributed to many of the journals on clocks and watches, and was a foundation member of the Antiquarian Horological Society. His interest in antiques led him to become the area representative for the National Art Collections Fund in Merseyside. He greatly enlarged the work of the fund locally. He served for many years on the fine art committee of Liverpool University, and played a part in the establishment of the university collection in Abercromby Square. He was a member of the Furniture Society and a member of the Liverpool dining club known as the XX Club, of which he became president. He was foundation president of the Liverpool Literary Society and a member of the Liverpool Antiquarian Society. He was a collector of old Liverpool pottery and he wrote articles on Herculaneum pottery in *The Connoisseur* magazine. He presented specimens of this pottery to the university collection. He had an extensive collection of antique silver and old Sheffield plate, of which two very fine pieces grace the university collection. More recently, he wrote the *The death of kings: a medical history of the kings and queens of England* (London, Abaon Books, 2000), a medical history speculating on the possible cause of death of monarchs from William I to Victoria. He was a keen fly fisherman and wrote several articles on fishing for *The Field* magazine. This hobby, particularly fly tying, became an absorbing interest after he retired to his residence near Winchester. Clifford married Marjorie Hirst, whom he met while reducing a compound fracture of the femur in an operating theatre in Normandy. They had three sons and two daughters. Clifford Brewer died on 29 April 2017, his 104th birthday. Possibly his greatest achievement, despite the above, was (in his own estimation) landing a 13 lb rainbow trout in Hampshire.