Arthur (Pat) Murphy was born in Liverpool on 30 November 1919, and received his higher education at Liverpool University. He qualified MB, ChB at Liverpool in 1942 and following junior posts at Walton Hospital, Liverpool, he was appointed registrar and subsequently senior registrar at the David Lewis Northern Hospital. He took his FRCS diploma in 1949 and two years later the ChM degree. In 1952 he was appointed consultant general surgeon at Walton Hospital and later to St Catherine's Hospital, Birkenhead, and Birkenhead General Hospital. He was a member of the International Society of Surgeons and published articles on surgery in old age and on intermittent claudication. He was also a keen golfer and a fine craftsman, having made amongst other things his own dining table and chairs. He died on 13 March 1989 in Liverpool, and was survived by his wife Jean, a doctor in community health, and their two sons, Michael, a haematologist at St Bartholomew's Hospital, and Charles.