Ian Henderson was born in Hamilton, Scotland, on 4 November 1918, the son of Stewart Dalton Henderson and Grace Aird, née Masterson. He was an only child. From Biggar High School he went to Fettes as a foundation scholar and was awarded a James Begg memorial exhibition. At Guy's Hospital Medical School he obtained the Edgcombe prize. After junior posts at Guy's he served in the RAMC from 1944 to 1946 with the rank of major, and held further surgical posts, including that of surgical registrar, at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, before being appointed surgeon to the Tunbridge group of hospitals in 1956. He served in the territorial army from 1947 to 1972 and was OC 308 General Hospital (1968 to 1972). He chaired the Tunbridge Division of the British Medical Association and was a member of the Tunbridge Wells and Leybourne Hospital Management Committee. He married Rosa Hertz, MB BS, MRCOG, in 1952, and they had two daughters, the elder of whom took up medicine at Guy's in 1972 and became a GP. His hobbies included skiing (he was an intrepid skier all his life), swimming, golf, photography and Army Medical Services. Having studied classics at school he had a lifelong interest in archaeology which, after retirement, took him to remote places in the Middle East. He died on 7 November 1995.