Philip Kerr was born on 22 February 1921, the son of Dugald Kerr, a Scottish civil engineer, and Charlotte Annie, née Tasker. He was educated at Oundle, where he won many prizes, and at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School. He qualified in 1943 and served as a medical officer in the RAF in Western Europe towards the end of hostilities. After the war he was appointed casualty officer at St Thomas's Hospital and worked with Victor Bonney. After becoming an orthopaedic senior registrar he worked at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Bournemouth and then at the Middlesex Hospital in London, where he trained with Philip Wiles and Philip Newman before being appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital. He subsequently published several papers on accident and emergency surgery following his experience with accidents on the newly opened M1 motorway in Hertfordshire. Outside surgery, his main interests lay in sailing, skiing and rally driving. He was a congenial man with a good sense of humour, and he made friends easily. He married Patricia Isobel (Pip) Pawsey in 1956 and they had three children: Gregor, who became a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Northampton, Lorna, a consultant anaesthetist in Norwich and Verena, a financier. He died on 23 October 1994 in Welwyn after a long illness due to Parkinson's disease, which he bore with patience and fortitude. He was survived by his wife and children.