John Edward Cairns was born on 15 August 1925 the son of T D Cairns, a Northumberland shepherd. After early education in the single room school in his local village he won a scholarship to King Edward VII Grammar School in Morpeth and later went to King's College, University of Durham to read classics as he intended to become a schoolmaster. In 1943 he was called up for military service and was commissioned in the Indian Army as Lieutenant. On demobilisation in 1947 he decided to make a career in medicine and entered St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School. He qualified in 1953 and served as house surgeon to Sir James Paterson Ross and house physician in the professorial unit before being appointed house surgeon to the ophthalmic department under Henry Stallard. At this stage he decided to embark on a career in ophthalmology and after passing the primary Fellowship in 1957 was appointed to the junior staff at Moorfields. He passed the FRCS in 1963 and was appointed consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, in the following year. In addition to a large clinical workload he developed an interest in the treatment of glaucoma and perfected the operation of trabeculectomy as well as modification of iridectomy and latterly internal trabecular surgery. This work was published in a two volume textbook on the treatment of glaucoma. He served as Vice-President of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom and as a member of the board of governors of the International Association of Ophthalmic Surgeons. He was characteristically a perfectionist, not only in his work but also in his hobby of gardening, winning the Challenge Cup at his local village show on many occasions. Sadly his active professional life was cut short by the onset of leukaemia and he died on 22 January 1986. He is survived by his wife Denise and two sons, Hugh and Neil. A memorial service was held on 14 February 1986 in the Chapel at Addenbrooke's Hospital.