Ernest Wells Grahame came from South-West Scotland graduating in Glasgow in 1926. After a short spell in general practice, he decided to concentrate on surgery. He became surgeon and medical superintendent to Middlesborough General Hospital in 1947 where he worked for the rest of his career. The war years and the imminence of the NHS created many difficulties but he was largely responsible for building up a modern hospital and a first class surgical service. He performed a vast amount of routine and emergency surgery and recorded his experiences of liver injuries as well as producing valuable data for discussion concerning blood groups and peptic ulceration. For Grahame, the patient came first, and he stood up to politicians and bureaucrats with a well prepared case while to his friends and colleagues he was considerate, loyal and helpful. On retirement, he turned to his other love - farming - but his last years were saddened by the crippling illness of his wife whom he nursed with great devotion and who died not long before his own death. He had no children. Ernest W Grahame died on 22 August 1980.