Richard Fitzwalter Read was born in Melbourne on 12 December 1916. His father was Fitzwalter Maurice Read and his mother, Ruby Wilkinson, a doctor's daughter. He was educated at Grimwade House, Melbourne Church of England Grammar School and Melbourne University. He did his clinical training at the Royal Alfred Hospital, coming top of his year in all subjects, and graduating with first class honours in 1939. After junior posts at the Alfred Hospital, he joined the Royal Australian Naval Reserve and was on loan to the Royal Navy for the duration of the second world war. He was present in the combined operations attack on Dieppe and similar invasions of North Africa and Sicily. After the war, he came to England under the aegis of Gordon Gordon-Taylor, studied under McNeill Love and George Perkins, and, in 1948, was appointed consultant surgeon to the Hackney Hospital. He worked there until 1968. A keen fisherman, he enjoyed bird-watching and gardening. He married twice. His first wife, whom he married in 1943, was Ann Griffiths, a surgical ward sister at the Royal Masonic Hospital. She died in 1968. They had one son, Glyn, and a daughter, Gaynor. His second wife was Gladys, née Hackwood, the widow of W H Gatty Saunt. He died in Marlow on 20 October 2002.