William Stewart Dickie was born in Glasgow on 10 December 1872. He began work as an office boy in an iron foundry at the age of 13, but when he was 15 he decided to go to sea and sailed as an apprentice in the four-master *Madagascar*. He took his second mate's certificate and his chief officer's examination, and then set sail in the *Kaffir Prince* expecting to sit for his master's certificate on his return. Unfortunately new eye-testing regulations came into force meanwhile and he failed. Dickie then decided, at the age of 22, to become a doctor and he studied medicine at the Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, St Bartholomew's Hospital and Berlin. He received the John Reid prize for two years for his outstanding work on 'The structure of the miliary tubercle'. At Glasgow he served as house-surgeon to Sir David McVail and to J Hogarth Pringle who was to have a profound influence on his life. Later he went to Middlesbrough as assistant to Finlay Munro MB, but on gaining the FRCS in 1903 he gave up general practice and was appointed surgeon to the North Riding Infirmary and to other hospitals in the area. In 1909 Dickie built a small nursing home. In order to widen his surgical experience he travelled extensively on the Continent and with his friend Pringle in Canada and the United States. After meeting Felix Lejars in France, Dickie translated his *Chirurgie d'urgence* and his English version reached a third edition (1910-23). During the first world war Dickie served as a surgeon in the RAMC and was appointed OBE for his services. On returning to Middlesbrough he rebuilt and enlarged his nursing home. He was a founder member of the Provincial Surgical Club of Great Britain and became its president. He founded the Tees-side Clinical Club to bring the younger medical men together. He belonged to the British Medical Association for nearly sixty years and took a keen interest in its affairs. At the Annual Meeting of 1921 he was secretary of the Section of Urology, chairman of the Cleveland Division in 1922, and president of the North of England Branch 1926-27. When Dickie came to London he always visited the College, became friendly with Sir Arthur Keith, and presented specimens to the Hunterian Museum. After a serious operation in 1932 he resigned his position as surgeon to the North Riding Infirmary, and retired in 1937, but during the second world war he was group adviser for the EMS in the north-east area, and took a keen interest in the Home Guard. Dickie was a tall, striking figure who never lost his Scottish burr. He devised a radical operation for cancer of the fauces. He was a kind, gentle and generous man. He retained his love for the sea and enjoyed sailing on Loch Fyne. His home was at Ardenclutha, Marton, Middlesbrough, but eventually he went to live with his second son Dr David Oswald Dickie at Shipham, Norfolk, where he died on 20 March 1960 aged 87. Dickie was survived by his widow, formerly Jean Kennedy Mitchell, whom he married in 1902, two daughters, one in the medical profession, and two sons. Mrs Dickie died on 15 April 1964 at Hexham, Northumberland.