Gerald Holmes was a surgeon at hospitals in Nigeria, South Africa, the South Pacific and the Middle East. Born on 7 January 1931 in Rotherham, he was the son of John Holmes, a wholesale confectioner, and his wife Lucy née Roome who was a nurse. He was educated by the Jesuits at Mount St Mary’s College in Spinkhill, Derbyshire and then studied medicine at Sheffield University. While doing house jobs in Sheffield he was particularly influenced by Robert Bransby Zachary, Francis Joseph Patrick O’Gorman and Sir Frank Holdsworth. He qualified MB ChB in 1954 and passed the conjoint examination the same year. From 1955 to 1957 he did his national service, serving as a captain in the RAMC based in Malaysia. He passed the fellowship of the college in 1962 and then, on completing his surgical training elected to work in mission and other hospitals overseas. After working in Africa, the South Pacific and the Middle East for 20 years he returned to the UK and settled in Nottingham. He never married. Throughout his career he wrote articles on a wide range of topics such as gastric surgery and the treatment of war casualties and stab wounds . In 1968 he was awarded the Papal Gold Cross Pro ecclesia et pontefice for services to the wounded in the Biafran Civil War. He died on 8 January 2011 aged 80.