Leicester Hammond Aitken was born on 10 January 1911 in Wallasey, England, son of Alexander, a schoolmaster and Florence (Hammond). Presumably his parents emigrated to New Zealand as he was educated at Waitaki School and Otago University, qualifying in 1937. During the second world war he served as captain on the New Zealand hospital ship *Manganui* in the Pacific fleet. In England after the war he was lecturer in anatomy, Cambridge, resident surgical officer at the Liverpool Royal Infirmary and chief surgical officer, Manchester Royal Infirmary, gaining the FRCS in 1942. In the same year he married Edith Iris Webber and they had two sons, one who became an architect and one an engineer. His interests were in yachting and golf. He died on 18 March 1992.