Frederick Ross Stansfield was born at Ilkley, Yorkshire, on 28 September 1904, the son of a cotton manufacturer. His early education was at Ilkley Grammar School before entering the University of Leeds and St Bartholomew's Hospital for medical studies. He qualified in 1928 with honours in medicine and two years later passed the FRCS. He served as house surgeon at Queen Charlotte's Hospital and later as resident medical officer at the Chelsea Hospital for Women. After passing the London MD in 1932 and winning the gold medal he settled in general practice at Ipswich where he also obtained an appointment as visiting gynaecologist to the hospital. Before the outbreak of war he had built up his obstetric and gynaecological hospital practice to the extent that he was able to devote all his time to the specialty and discontinue general practice. At the time of the introduction of the National Health Service in 1948 he was appointed consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician. In addition to his heavy professional commitment in Ipswich he was a frequent attender of the meetings of the Section of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Royal Society of Medicine. He retired from practice in 1969. His first marriage was in 1932 and they had two sons, Richard and Ian. After the death of his first wife in 1959 he remarried in 1963. His second wife is Eileen Hopkins, a nursing sister. His outside interests were gardening and sailing and he was particularly proud of winning the Harwich to Hook of Holland race in 1958. He died from carcinoma of the colon on 8 October 1983 aged 79 and is survived by his second wife and the two sons of his first marriage.