Robert Debenham, or 'Deb' as he was universally known, was born in Presteigne, Radnorshire, on 3 January 1902, the son of Horace Alan Debenham, a general practitioner, and his wife Maud Constance, who was the daughter of a GP. After preliminary schooling at Brockhurst he was educated at Malvern College and Pembroke College, Cambridge, whence he obtained an entrance scholarship to the London Hospital. Debenham's father, uncle and both his grandfathers had trained and qualified at the London before him. Whilst there he won several undergraduate prizes and qualified with the conjoint diploma in 1925, subsequently obtaining the MB BCh in 1927 and the FRCS in the same year. After qualifying he was house physician to Sir Robert Hutchinson and house surgeon to Sir Hugh Rigby, and from 1928 to 1931 he was first assistant to Sir Hugh Lett Bt, who was later President of the Royal College of Surgeons from 1938 to 1940. Deb enjoyed his decade at the London very much and retained a great affection for the hospital throughout his successful career. In 1931 he was appointed consultant surgeon at Selly Oak Hospital, one of the large municipal hospitals in Birmingham, but the following year he was appointed to the surgical staff of the Queen's Hospital, one of the principal University teaching hospitals in the city, and when the Queen's closed in 1941 his appointment was transferred to the newly-built Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Debenham enlisted in the Territorial Army in the late 'thirties and was mobilised upon the outbreak of war in 1939 as a surgical specialist, serving later as lieutenant colonel in charge of the surgical divisions of the 7th, 16th and 8th General Hospitals in France in 1940, Crete in 1941 when he narrowly escaped capture by German parachutists, the Middle East and Italy from 1941 to 1944. He was mentioned in despatches and subsequently appointed as consultant surgeon with the rank of brigadier to the 2nd British Army for the invasion of Europe in 1944 and served with distinction in that campaign. Among his many experiences the most traumatic was his entry into Belsen concentration camp, and the horrific sights that he witnessed there made an indelible impression on his sensitive nature. Deb was a keen and very active member of the Moynihan Chirurgical Club, being a regular attender at its overseas meetings, but he never again attended a meeting in Germany, as he was afraid that this would inevitably awaken dreaded recollections of his experiences at Belsen. After the war Deb rejoined his colleagues at the Children's Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where he spent the remainder of his surgical career until his retirement in 1967. Deb was an excellent surgical 'all-rounder' with an impressive technique and adroitly undertook per urethral resection of the prostate at a time when this operation was considered to lie in the ambit of a specialist urologist. He was immensely popular with his colleagues for his sense of humour combined with wide experience and sound common sense. His judgement was outstanding and he was in frequent demand as a second opinion. Deb had a special affinity with the young and hence was a superb teacher both of undergraduates and postgraduates. His house surgeon's job and that of his registrar were always keenly contested and he formed enduring friendships with the majority of his protégés. He was very proud to have served on the teaching staff of the hospital for 35 years, during which time he also served as an external examiner in surgery to the University of Cambridge, in addition to several stints as an examiner in Birmingham. Sadly Deb's first marriage in 1932 proved to be an unhappy one, ending in divorce, but in 1956 he married Elizabeth Ann Wells, the daughter of Admiral Sir Gerald Wells RN, and this proved to be a most successful union which brought him immense happiness. Their two children, Tom and Sue, both became doctors and Deb was delighted that they continued the family's long association with the practice of medicine. After a long and happy retirement in the countryside Deb died on 30 March 1996, having been predeceased a few years earlier by Elizabeth. At his funeral on a lovely spring day at Tardehigge, Worcestershire, the ancient local church, surrounded by blooming daffodils, was filled to overflowing by friends and admirers who came to pay their last respects to a highly regarded man who was held in great affection by those who knew him.