Gilbert Charrington Wellish was born in Sydney, Australia, on 1 January 1893, the youngest of four children. No details of his parents are available but it is known that several members of the family practised surgery and one nephew was a pathologist. After graduating from Sydney University in 1916 he was RMO at the Alfred Hospital, Sydney, and then came to Europe with the Australian Expeditionary Force to serve with the RAAMC until the end of the first world war in which his brother was killed. After demobilisation with the rank of Captain he remained in England and in 1919 he was appointed house surgeon to Croydon General Hospital, then little more than a cottage hospital with no specialist clinics. Having passed the FRCS in 1921, he entered general practice in Croydon in 1924 and was appointed as honorary surgeon to Croydon General Hospital in 1927, eventually to become the longest serving member of its medical staff. At the time of D-day during the second world war he worked in a casualty reception centre at Roehampton Hospital. Apart from his surgical work and general practice he was an obstetrician at St Mary's Maternity Hospital, Croydon, as well as public vaccinator and medical referee to several county courts. Noted for his tact, cooperation and efficiency he made a great contribution to the work of his hospital, especially before the inception of the NHS. In 1959 he was chairman of the group medical advisory committee until his retirement in 1958. Though twice married he had no children of his own. He died in 1969.