Charles Bruce Noble was born at Blantyre, Scotland, on 7 October 1919. His father, James Noble, was a consultant mining engineer. His mother was Shelagh Maclean, a farmer's daughter. He was educated at Hamilton Academy and Glasgow University, where he qualified with a distinction in material medica. He was house surgeon to the Royal Alexandra Infirmary, Paisley, before joining the RAMC in 1943, where he served through the war with the 1st Airborne Division, being taken prisoner of war at Arnhem. He escaped and was recaptured three months later. Subsequently, he served in Palestine with the 6th Airborne Division. After the war, he became a clinical assistant to the Metropolitan Hospital, London, and was then surgical registrar at the Park Hospital, Davyhulme, Manchester. Having passed the FRCS, he went to be consultant visiting general surgeon to the Wanganui and Patea Hospital Boards, New Zealand. He represented the Wanganui division on the BMA council from 1970. He married Lysbeth Plant, daughter of Henry Plant, a doctor, in 1949. They had four daughters and two sons; one of his children predeceased him. There were nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild by the time that he died on 21 December 1997, survived by his wife and family.