Jack Darling was born in Lurgan, County Armagh, on 5 July 1911, the second of eight children. His father, John Singleton Darling, was a GP surgeon who became President of the Ulster branch of the BMA and of the Ulster Medical Association. His mother, Marjorie née Shillington, was the daughter of a civil engineer. Jack was educated at Kingsmead School and Lurgan College, from which he won a scholarship to Queen's University Belfast. There he was joint winner of the Coulter prize and gained second class honours. After two years of resident appointments in Belfast teaching hospitals, and two years as an anatomy demonstrator, he was house surgeon at the Miller Hospital, Greenwich, and surgical officer to the Emergency Medical Service. There he met Beryl James, a doctor, whom he was later to marry. He joined the RAMC in 1943, where he rose to command the surgical division of the 19th General Hospital. Volunteering for the Parachute Regiment, he was parachuted into occupied France on D-day. The Germans overran his field hospital and he was taken prisoner: he escaped once, but was recaptured and spent the rest of the war working in a prison hospital caring for injured prisoners of war. After the end of the war in Europe, he returned to England, married Beryl, and was saved from transfer to the Far East by the atom bomb. He was instead posted to Palestine, where his deep knowledge of the Bible enabled him to enjoy his spare time exploring biblical sites. After demobilisation, he went to Tanganyika as surgeon to the Groundnut Scheme, and later transferred to the Government service. He was awarded the OBE for his services to medicine in Tanganyika. Later he moved to Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda, where he worked with Denis Birkett, a close friend from student days. In 1963, the family returned to England and Jack was appointed consultant surgeon to the County Hospital, Huntingdon, where he worked until his retirement in 1976. He had four children, Martin, Richard, Penny and Andrew, two of whom became doctors. He died at home, aged 91, on 19 July 2002.