Born on 27 December 1914, at Dunoon, Renfrewshire, the son of a Scottish minister, Hugh lived in Naples as a child and went to school in Switzerland. He qualified MRCS LRCP from Westminster Hospital Medical School in 1939 and MB BS (London) in 1940. During the war-time bombing of London he worked at Charing Cross Hospital. In 1942 he took the FRCS and later joined the RAF serving as a Squadron-Leader surgical specialist in Ceylon and the Middle East. In 1947 he was appointed to the Guildford Hospitals, where he worked as a consultant general surgeon for over thirty years. He gained a high reputation for his surgical skill and his personal concern for his patients. He was well- known for his wry sense of humour and spontaneous wit and was universally and affectionately known as 'Joe'. He died on 15 August, 1980, leaving his wife, Celia and one daughter, a dental surgeon; and one son, a consultant radiologist.