Born in Birkenhead on Christmas Day 1922, Laurence Godfrey trained at Guy's Hospital and qualified in 1944. After the war he trained in orthopaedics at the Norfolk and Norwich and Addenbrooke's Hospitals before being appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Stoke Mandeville. There he became a keen member of the British Orthopaedic Association and the Société Internationale de Chirurgie Orthopédique et Traumatologique, and was president of the local St John Ambulance Association. He had many outside interests but of these his passion was for bridge, where he and Joan, his wife, formed a formidable partnership. He died on 12 May 1992, survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters, and eight grandchildren.