Born on 22 September 1908 at 11 Barrington Road, Crouch End, N, the eldest of the five children of Frank Ernest Todd, civil servant and principal inspector of taxes, and Margaret Mary Shearman, his wife. He was educated at Prior Park School, Bath, and from there proceeded to Guy's Hospital, taking honours at the London MB examination with distinction in midwifery. At Guy's Hospital he served as house surgeon and obstetric resident, whilst in the medical school he was appointed assistant demonstrator of anatomy. By this time he had determined to devote himself to gynaecology, and took post-graduate courses in Dublin and Vienna. For a time he acted as resident surgical officer at the Royal Infirmary, Preston, was research Fellow at the Christie Hospital and assistant registrar at the Holt Radium Institute, Manchester. From these positions he became gynaecologist at the Salford Royal Hospital, the Hope Hospital, Salford, and the Crumpsall Hospital, Manchester. He was examiner in gynaecology to the General Nursing Council. On 4 February 1938, as Hunterian professor at the Royal College of Surgeons, he delivered a lecture on "Rectal ulceration following immediate treatment of carcinoma of the cervix (pseudo-carcinoma of the rectum)". He was gazetted captain, RAMC on 2 September 1939 and afterwards promoted major, and was killed as the result of a motor accident whilst on active service in France on 1 December 1939, and was buried at Mon Huon, Flocques, Seine-Inférieure: the first Fellow of the College to be killed in the second world war, a man who would have gone far. He never married. Publications: Prognosis in carcinoma of cervical stump after subtotal hysterectomy, with J R Nuttall. *J Obstet Gynaec Brit Emp* 1935, 42, 860. Present position of treatment in carcinoma of cervix uteri. *Brit J Radiol* 1936. 9, 196. The pathway and relief of pain in advanced carcinoma of cervix uteri. *Lancet*, 1937, 2, 555.