Graham Bryce was born in Southport, Lancashire, the son of Elizabeth Dodds and Alexander Graham Bryce who was the managing director of a calico printing firm. He went to school at the Southport Modern School for Boys until the age of 11 when he proceeded to complete his secondary education at the Bickerton House School until he was 16. When he was 16 he matriculated and went very early to the Manchester University Medical School so that he graduated at what was a very tender age, at 21. He proceeded to the Degree of MD in 1913, and to the Diploma of Public Health in 1915. He gained his Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1923. At the University of Manchester, he was a diligent and successful student, obtaining distinctions and exhibitions in anatomy, physiology, pharmacology and medicine, and a host of prizes and medals. As house physician to Dr E M Brookbank, a cardiologist of high national repute, he was early acquainted with diseases of the heart. This served him well later in life when he entered the practice of thoracic surgery. His subsequent years of postgraduate study indicated that he practised what he subsequently preached, namely that hard experience in general medicine and surgery is an essential basis for later devotion to a specialty; as a house officer in medicine, he studied the problem of cancer of the stomach, to form the basis of his thesis for a doctorate which he obtained in 1913. Further postgraduate experience was gained as a resident medical officer at the Manchester Children's Hospital, and in 1914 as senior resident in the Manchester Tuberculosis Hospital. Like so many surgeons of his generation he served in the RAMC in artillery, infantry, and cavalry medical units, from 1915 to 1919. During this period he decided to enter the practice of surgery and held surgical house appointments from 1919 to 1921 at the Blackburn Royal Infirmary. He journeyed south to work as senior house surgeon at the Royal Dock Hospital for Seamen and subsequently at St George's Hospital. In 1923, having obtained his English Fellowship, he returned to Manchester as senior surgical registrar at the Royal Infirmary, where subsequently he was appointed resident surgical officer, holding the post for two years. At that time a galaxy of surgical stars, known throughout the world, held appointments on the staff of the Manchester Royal Infirmary, and fierce competition for places existed. His potential was recognized by his election as surgical tutor until 1927 when he moved to the Manchester Victoria Memorial Jewish Hospital as a consultant surgeon. An additional appointment as honorary assistant surgeon at Salford Royal Hospital placed him in the company of men as distinguished as Geoffrey Jefferson and J B Macalpine. Although in private practice, he found time and energy to commence a study of thoracic surgery and obtained appointments in sanatoria in the Manchester area. He published several papers on general surgery in 1913-1932 and in 1934, together with James E H Roberts, Sir Clement Price Thomas and a spontaneous pneumothorax and pulmonary lobectomy. In those early days of thoracic surgery, like many men of that era entering this specialty, he visited surgical centres in Great Britain and overseas; he studied in Berlin, Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, and during these tours he made abiding friendships amongst thoracic surgeons. In 1934 he achieved a cherished ambition when appointed to the honorary staff of the Manchester Royal Infirmary. His quiet, gentle and self-deprecatory manner did not decieve his many friends, as underneath a gentle exterior was a dogged determination to pursue the craft and science of surgery successfully. He established thoracic surgery in his district; at a meeting of the Association of Surgeons in Manchester in 1934, together with the late J E H Roberts, Sir Clement Price Thomas and a few others, he formed a small club over a drink in the Midland Hotel. He was the first secretary of this club which rapidly became known as the Society of Thoracic Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland. For many years he held this post and the large and flourishing present day Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons owes much to him. Young men of the generation just behind his, know how much they are in debt to him. To them in particular he showed a real sympathy and encouragement which is not easily forgotten. Graham Bryce was happy in his family life. His wife Isabel Bryce was the daughter of the distinguished Professor James Lorrain Smith, FRS and she herself achieved success and fame, particularly in the field of sociology, with particular reference to medicine. At the time of his death, she was chairman of the Oxford Regional Hospital Board. For her work in the field of hospital administration she was awarded the DBE in 1968. To many thoracic surgeons her friendliness and human sympathy are widely recognised. It was always pleasant to think of her working in her garden while her husband attended to his main hobby, namely bee-keeping. Surgery owes much to both of them. Bryce died suddenly at his home in Upper Basildon near Reading, on 24 October 1968, leaving a widow and two sons.