John McKessar Duncan was a consultant general surgeon at the Guest Hospital, Dudley, and at the Corbett Hospital, Stourbridge. He was known in and around the Black Country as 'Mr Duncan', at once implying respect, recognition and renown. He was born on 1 February 1919 and grew up in Birmingham. At the age of eight his father, a doctor, died and he and his siblings faced a bleak future in a land suffering depression, loss and bereavement due to the war and disease. Qualifying in 1941 from the medical school in Birmingham, John started his medical career during the Blitz; Birmingham and the surrounding areas were a target due to the industrial importance of the region. Later in the 1940s he worked as a registrar for Sir Archibald McIndoe at the East Grinstead Burns Unit. There he helped develop techniques for the treatment of serious disfigurement and injuries caused by deep burns, particularly restructuring facial disfigurement in airmen. He specialised in treating contractures in hands. At this time his research for the Medical Research Council into preventing infection from burn injuries and the importance of saline baths played its part in this pioneering work. Also in the 1940's he joined the RAMC, working at Tidworth and aboard on the HMHS *Oxfordshire*. The ship transported injured servicemen and prisoners of war from the near and Far East. This included caring for refugees from Nagasaki being taken to Canada for respite - an experience that understandably had a profound effect. He returned to Birmingham to assist in the development of the burns unit at the Accident Hospital and also to lecture in anatomy at the medical school. Whilst working towards his FRCS, he gained more surgical experience at the Children's Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, and the Royal Hospital at Wolverhampton. Having successfully achieved his FRCS in 1954, he continued to work in the Birmingham and the now West Midlands areas. He became a consultant surgeon in general surgery at the Guest Hospital in Dudley and the Corbett Hospital in Stourbridge, where he developed and shared his skills for the benefit of the community until his retirement. Throughout his professional life and into retirement he maintained his interest in supporting young surgeons as they developed their surgical skills and careers. He actively supported education and research, sponsored by charitable donations collected by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Donations in his memory continue to support this work. At the Queen's Hospital, Birmingham, he met Betty, his dearly-beloved wife of 57 years, who died in 2000. His son Ian died in 2012. John was survived by his daughter Catherine, granddaughters Zoe and Helen, grandson Neil and their families. Always a gregarious man, in his retirement he found time to cultivate his garden, his vines and his friendships. He particularly enjoyed playing golf an activity, that no doubt contributed to his longevity. He died peacefully at home on 26 January 2016 from infirmity and pneumonia. He was 96.