Thomas Denness was born in Motherwell, Lanarkshire, on 13 September 1912, the son of Thomas Denness, a mechanical and electrical engineer in the Civil Service, and Janet née Collins. He was educated at the Merchant Taylors' School, Charterhouse Square, London, from which he gained the Merchant Taylors' scholarship to St Thomas's Hospital, qualifying in 1935. After junior posts in the children's and orthopaedic departments at St Thomas's, he was casualty officer, resident anaesthetist and house surgeon to P H Mitchener and W Rowley Bristow. He joined the Indian Medical Service in 1936 and, on his return in 1948, took the Liverpool MCh in orthopaedics. He was appointed consultant orthopaedic surgeon to the Ipswich and East Suffolk Hospital Group, and then to the Hexham and District General Hospital. He played the clarinet. He married Barbara Howlett in 1937. His wife predeceased him. Their daughter Mary trained as a nurse at St Thomas's. He had one grandson, Joseph. Denness died on 16 May 1997.