Derek Willey Purser was born near Heywood, Lancashire, on 14 June 1922, and was educated at Heywood Grammar School and Manchester University where he graduated MB ChB in 1946. After house appointments he took the FRCS in 1951 and served for two years as an orthopaedic surgeon in the Army in Germany. In 1957 he was appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon to the Lancaster and Kendal Group, and played his full part in the development of the casualty services in the North Lancashire and South Westmoreland area which included parts of the Lake District and other wild and mountainous districts. His other great interest was postgraduate education, for he was the first postgraduate tutor in Lancaster, acting both for the University of Manchester and the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and was chairman of the postgraduate centre committee. In his private life Derek Purser was devoted to his family, and enjoyed gardening, fishing, shooting and painting. He married Margaret Pearson SRN in 1947 and they had a son and two daughters. He had a serious illness in 1967, but was able to resume full work and all his other activities till he died suddenly on 21 November 1970. His wife and children survived him.