Born 28 April 1878 at Croxall Lodge, Bromham Road, Bedford, the son of James Aberdour Elmslie and Cecilia Cheyne, his wife. His father, a master marine and lieutenant RNR, was captain of the *La Hogue* and the *Sobraon*, noted clippers on the Australian run. His mother came of distinguished medical stock: John Cheyne (1654-1741) was in general practice at Leith, near Edinburgh; John Cheyne (d 1824) was FRCS Edinburgh and his portrait hangs in Surgeons' Hall; John Cheyne (1777- 1836) was a Fellow and professor of medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, there are accounts of him in the *Dictionary of National Biography* and in Sir Charles Cameron's *History of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland*, pp 464-67. R C Elmslie was educated at Brighton Grammar School, and entered the medical school at St Bartholomew's Hospital on 1 October 1895 after gaining the entrance scholarship. He afterwards obtained the senior scholarship, served as house surgeon to Sir Henry T Butlin, and was awarded the Lawrence scholarship. For the next five years he acted as demonstrator in the department of pathology, which was developing rapidly with Dr F W Andrewes as its head. During this period he attached himself to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital where in due course he became surgeon and consulting surgeon. He also held the post of assistant surgeon at the Metropolitan Hospital and there had experience of general surgery. He was appointed surgical registrar at St Bartholomew's in 1910, and in 1912 was elected surgeon in charge of the department of orthopaedics, a post which previously had always been held by an assistant surgeon. He held office until 1937 when he resigned on account of failing health, was made a governor of the hospital and was nominated consulting orthopaedic surgeon. At the Royal College of Surgeons he obtained the Jacksonian prize for his essay on "The pathology and treatment of deformities of the long bones due to disease during the after adolescence". In 1907 he delivered an Erasmus Wilson lecture taking as his subject "Injury and deformity of the upper epiphysis of the femur, coxa vara". In 1933 he was elected a member of the Council, but died before he had completed his term of office. During the war of 1914-18 he received a commission as captain, RAMC(T) on 5 September 1914, was attached to the First London General Hospital and was detailed for duty as officer in charge of the Military Orthopaedic Hospital at Shepherd's Bush which, sponsored by Sir Robert Jones, owed much of its success to the brain and industry of Elmslie. For his services he was decorated an Officer of the military division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. He was attached to the Ministry of Pensions as consulting orthopaedic surgeon to Queen Mary's Hospital at Roehampton. Elmslie filled many posts and did much good work during his busy life. In 1905 he took an active part in establishing a school medical service throughout the country and from that year until 1940 he was connected officially with the London County Council, first in the formation of special schools for physically defective children and from 1938 as chairman of the Central Council for the care of Cripples. He was president in 1939 of the Chartered Society of Massage and Medical Gymnastics, having acted as the vice-chairman 1925-29 and subsequently as chairman. He was, too, chairman of the executive committee of the Council for the care of Cripples. He was an original member and a president of the British Orthopaedic Association, and president in 1924 of the British Medical Association's orthopaedic section and of the orthopaedic section of the Royal Society of Medicine. He was consulting surgeon to the Foundling Hospital, and from 1938 until his death he was the only medical member of the Royal Commission on Workmen's Compensation. He married Lottie Louisa Carrington on 6 April 1915. She survived him with a son who held a scholarship at King's College, Cambridge. Elmslie died at Tuesley near Godalming, Surrey, on 24 July 1940. All that Elmslie did he did well. Quiet and somewhat reserved in manner he was simple, straightforward, and tolerant. He accomplished much for orthopaedic surgery and widened its scope by the introduction of gymnastics, the organization of fracture treatment, and by looking after the welfare of cripples. He was so excellent a teacher that many of the important orthopaedic centres in the south of England came under the control of his pupils. He was a good man of business and acted with great ability as chairman of the medical council and of the medical college committee at St Bartholomew's Hospital. Ill-health due to thyroid trouble hampered but never stopped his work during the last few years of his life. Publications: The continuation of active rachitic processes in the bones into the adolescent period. *St Bart's Hosp Rep*. 1906, 42, 155. Osteitis deformans. *Ibid*. 1908, 44, 121. The diagnosis of endosteal tumours. *Ibid*. 1912, 48, 73. Injury and deformity of the epiphysis of the head of the femur: coxa vara (Erasmus Wilson lecture, RCS). *Lancet*, 1907, 1, 410. The classes of physically defective children for whom instruction in special schools is necessary. *Internat Cong Sch Hyg*. 2, London, 1907, Trans. 2, 672. The varieties and treatment of lateral curvature of the spine. *Lancet*, 1912, 2, 1430. *Coxa vara, its pathology and treatment*. London: Frowde, 1913. 35 pages. Fibrocystic disease of the bones. *Brit J Surg*. 1914, 2, 17. A Broca and C Ducroquet. *Artificial limbs*, translated and edited. London: University Press, 1918. 160 pages. *The after-treatment of wounds and injuries*. London: Churchill, 1919. 323 pages. Deformities; Fractures and dislocations; Diseases of bone, in G E Gask and H W Wilson *Surgery*. London, 1920. Calcareous deposits in the supraspinatus tendon. *Brit J Surg*. 1933, 20, 190. The diagnosis and treatment of generalized osteitis fibrosa with hyperparathyroidism, jointly with other authors. *Ibid*. p 479.