Peter Freeman was born on 24 January 1925 in Birmingham, the son of the Reverend Albert Freeman and his wife Winifred, née Wilson, the church organist. His schooling in Newcastle-under-Lyne was interrupted by a two year stay as a patient in Oswestry where his knee was arthrodesed, an event which no doubt stimulated his later interest in orthopaedics. He went on to Christ's College, Cambridge, and to St Bartholomew's Hospital, where he was the Brackenbury Scholar in surgery. He qualified MB Cambridge in 1949 and after junior posts in and around London he returned to the Sir Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Memorial Hospital, Oswestry, as an orthopaedic trainee. He gained the FRCS in 1955 and went up to the Western Infirmary, Glasgow, as senior registrar in 1937. His training period was completed by two years at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, during which time he was also clinical lecturer in orthopaedics at Harvard University. In 1961 he was appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Glasgow Victoria Infirmary, where he enjoyed a distinguished career until his retirement in 1990. Not surprisingly he developed an interest and expertise in joint replacement and was one of the first orthopaedic surgeons to concern himself with rheumatoid arthritis. He was also surgeon-in-charge of the West of Scotland Spinal Injuries Unit in Philipshill, Glasgow, and his numerous publications reflect his contributions to arthroplasty and the rehabilitation of spinal injury patients. His main hobbies were fishing, sport (especially cricket) and military history - particularly of the first world war. He married Daphne Crockett on 3 April 1959 and by her had three daughters. He died on 7 May 1995, survived by his wife, two of his daughters, Elizabeth Mary and Victoria Alice, and a stepson, Peter Crockett, a Church of England priest.