While Arthur Orfeur Parker, affectionately known as AO, was born in June 1893 in Wellington, Somerset, and went to school at West Buckland, his medical education was in Winnipeg at the University of Manitoba following emigration to Canada as a young man. It is known that he served with the Canadian Army in the first world war and was wounded in France. He returned to England in 1925 to train as an orthopaedic surgeon under the notable Naughton Dunn in Birmingham in a department with a world wide recognition. When a locum vacancy occurred in the Prince of Wales Orthopaedic Hospital, Cardiff, AO went there and was appointed consulting surgeon in 1927. His appointments gradually extended to the Welsh National School of Medicine as lecturer and clinical tutor and to the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital, Oswestry as visiting consulting surgeon. He developed a special interest in correcting congenital dislocation of the hip by performing an acetabuloplasty which he called a 'shelf' operation. During the second world war he worked with the EMS at Whitchurch and the Ministry of Pensions hospitals at Cardiff. His particular contribution to orthopaedic surgery and his services to the community related to his devotion to the development of the Prince of Wales Hospital as a centre of orthopaedic excellence for South Wales. His diligence and efforts were matched by his versatility and skill as a surgeon and his wise counsels in medico-legal circles. He organised the accident service at City Lodge, Cardiff (St David's Hospital) and was also consultant surgeon to Llandough Hospital and Barry Accident Hospital. With the advent of the National Health Service in 1948 he continued his work for the orthopaedic services in Wales and he became the first consultant advisor in orthopaedic surgery to the Welsh Regional Hospital Board. He was elected an Honorary FRCS in 1951. He married Edna Emma in Winnipeg in 1922. His eldest son predeceased him but he was survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. He died on 26 December 1982.