Hugh James McKim Thomas was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Nottingham. He was born on 3 October 1932, the son of G M Thomas of Llandaff, South Wales. He attended Epsom College from 1945 to 1951 and then studied medicine at Cardiff University Medical School, qualifying in 1955. He gained his FRCS in 1963. He was an orthopaedic registrar at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, London, and then became an honorary consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital, Oswestry, Shropshire, and a lecturer in orthopaedic surgery at the University of Manchester and a consultant at the Royal Infirmary. He subsequently became a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Nottingham. He was a fellow of the British Orthopaedic Association. Hugh James McKim Thomas died suddenly on 29 June 2007. He was 74.