John Shelswell was born in Warwickshire on 19 January 1919. His father, Henry Bower Shelswell, was a hospital administrator, his mother was Lily née Johnson. He was educated at King Edward VII School, Sheffield, and Manchester Grammar School, before going on to read medicine at Manchester University. After house jobs he did a series of junior posts under A M Boyd, Sir Harry Platt and Sir John Charnley in Manchester, followed by service in the RAMC in Europe. On demobilisation he returned to complete his training in orthopaedics under Sir Herbert Seddon and J I P James at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. He was appointed as a consultant to the Southend General Hospital Group in 1955, where he developed a special interest in hand surgery and sports injuries. He was chairman of his hospital medical committee and of the Essex area BMA. He retired in 1984. In 1951 he married Cicely Butterworth, by whom he had a son, Robert Oliver, and daughter, Anne Elizabeth. There are five grandchildren. Formerly a keen sailor, he was a skilled photographer and gardener and, until diabetic neuropathy limited his activities, a keen golfer. He died from coronary thrombosis on 27 February 2002.