Born at Chester on 29 June 1902, the only daughter of James and Margaret Beck, she was educated at the Queen's School there and at the London School of Medicine for Women, where she won prizes and scholarships. After a few successful years as a general surgeon, she decided to specialise in neurosurgery and trained in Sir Hugh Cairns's exacting school at Oxford, holding the William Gibson research scholarship awarded by the Royal Society of Medicine in 1939. During the war of 1939-45 she practised and taught at Oxford, Enfield, and Bristol, and was appointed neurosurgeon at the Royal Free Hospital in 1943. She received a remarkable tribute to her abilities in being appointed in 1947 neurosurgeon at the Middlesex Hospital, the first appointment of a woman to the senior staff of a major teaching hospital in London. She quickly made her mark here as surgeon, teacher, and popular member of the community. She published valuable papers in *Brain*, *The British Journal of Surgery*, and elsewhere, her latest work being on the surgical treatment of intracerebral haemorrhage. She served for two years as president of the London Association of the Medical Women's Federation. She was the only woman neurosurgeon of consultant rank in western Europe or North America, and carried her exhausting work and responsibilities with consummate ability in spite of frail physique. She was a woman of naturally fastidious taste and open-hearted generosity. She died suddenly on 3 March 1956, when apparently well on the way to recovery after undergoing thymectomy. A memorial service was held in Middlesex Hospital Chapel on 22 March. She was survived by her two brothers. Publications: Oligodendrogliomatosis of the cerebrospinal pathway, with D S Russell. *Brain* 1942, 65, 352-372. Implantation of acrylic resin discs in rabbits' skulls, with D S Russell and others. *Brit J Surg* 1945, 33, 83-6. Experiments on thrombosis of the superior longitudinal sinus, with D S Russell. *J Neurosurg* 1946, 3, 337-347. Intracranial haemorrhage in closed head injuries. *Arch Middx Hosp* 1954, 4, 231-255. Sequelae of head injuries. *Trans Ass Indust Med Off* 1955, 5, 77-83.