Robert Richardson qualified from Durham in 1961 and, after junior posts, specialised in orthopaedics, training in Newcastle, Middlesborough and at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital, Oswestry. In 1974 he was awarded the Malkin travelling scholarship, before taking up his consultant appointment at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, where he was in charge of trauma medicine. He also did elective orthopaedics at the Leicester General Hospital, where he was clinical tutor. His main interest was in the surgery of the shoulder, for which he started a combined clinic with rheumatologists and published papers on the management of acromioclavicular injuries. Outside medicine, his interests included motor car racing and railways. He was one of the few who could claim the distinction of having driven the Flying Scotsman. He died after a long period of ill-health on 2 August 1999, leaving a wife, Sylvia, and two children.