Gerard Irvine was a consultant otorhinolaryngologist in the Royal Navy. He was born in Naini Tal, India, on 19 June 1913, the son of Major Gerard Byrom Corrie Irvine of the Indian Army and Maud Andree née Wylde. His grandfather, Gerard James Irvine, had served in the Navy as Inspector General of Hospitals and Fleets. Gerard was educated at the Imperial Service College, Windsor, and Epsom College, Surrey, where he was awarded the Jenks memorial scholarship. He received his medical education at University College, London, and was awarded the Liston gold medal for surgery, where he worked for Wilfred Trotter, Gwynne Williams, Sir John McNee and Clifford White. He became a house surgeon at the Royal Ear Hospital, then spent a period at the Royal Hospital Wolverhampton, working in general surgery with Milnes Walker, before returning to London to the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital. He entered the Royal Navy and spent his career there as an otorhinolaryngologist, eventually becoming senior consultant in ear, nose and throat surgery to the Royal Navy and medical officer in charge of the surgical division at the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar from 1966 to 1970. He served as adviser to the Medical Director General of the Ministry of Defence. He was a member of the council of the British Association of Otolaryngologists from 1958 to 1970. Irvine wrote a number of papers on service-related topics and on a variety of unusual conditions of the nose and nasopharynx. He was a quiet and unassuming man who had an intense interest in the Navy. In his retirement he pursued his interest in philately, gardening and was a keen handyman. In 1939, he married Phyllis Lucy Lawrie, a nurse. There was one son of the marriage, Martin, who is a Commander in the Royal Navy, and two grandchildren, James and Clare. Gerard died on 9 August 1997.