Born in Bradford in 1877, the eldest son of David, medical officer to the Bradford Royal Infirmary, he was educated at Bradford Grammar School and at St John's College, Cambridge, where he took second-class honours in the Natural Sciences Tripos part I in 1899. He went onto St Mary's Hospital as a university scholar, qualifying in 1903. After holding several resident appointments he returned to Bradford in 1906 as assistant surgeon to the Royal Infirmary. He was awarded the Jacksonian Prize in 1912 for his essay *The embryology and treatment of cleft palate*, and he edited the surgical section of the *Medical Annual* in 1918. During the first world war, Goyder served in the RAMC, and on his return was appointed honorary surgeon to Bradford Royal Infirmary in 1918. He was a pioneer in orthopaedic surgery in the West Riding of Yorkshire. After retiring in 1938 he became, when war began in 1938, a group advisor and orthopaedic specialist in the Emergency Medical Service. This entailed much hard work and travelling over the whole of West Riding until his final retirement in 1950. He acted as one of the honorary secretaries of the Section of Diseases of Children at the BMA Annual Meeting in London in 1910 and in 1924 he served as vice-president of the Section of Orthopaedics at Bradford. He was interested in preventative medicine and the school health service. Goyder was a shy, unselfish, unassuming man. His remarkable memory retained a detailed knowledge of human anatomy to the end of his life. He died on 18 October 1954 at the age of 77, survived by his widow and one son, who was also educated at Cambridge and at St Mary's Hospital and who qualified in 1951.