Frederick Charles Dwyer, the son of Henry Law Dwyer, a civil engineer, and of Edith Maud (née Devenish) was born at East London, South Africa, on 25 August 1907. He was educated at St Andrew's College, Grahamstown, and the University of Cape Town where he graduated in 1931. After a period in general practice at Kimberley he came to England for his orthopaedic training and higher qualifications, taking his MCh and FRCS just before the second world war. During the war he was in charge of the orthopaedic services at Wigan and afterwards he was appointed to Alder Hey Children's Hospital and Sefton General Hospital. Throughout his career, and as a former general practitioner himself, he was especially supportive of his colleagues in general practice to whom he was always readily available for both hospital and private practice. He had an enquiring mind and developed a great interest in the foot. His calcaneal osteotomy was a major contribution to the management of both talipes equinovarus and pes cavus. He gave a Hunterian lecture at the Royal College of Surgeons in 1963 on the relationship of variations in the size and inclination of the calcaneus to the shape and function of the foot. He was an excellent teacher, especially for the MCh Orth degree at Liverpool where he was an examiner. A man of integrity, strong religious conviction, and gentle courtesy, he inspired deep affection and trust among his patients and their families, especially in the industrial and mining communities. Dwyer was a man of seemingly unlimited energy with a great interest in outdoor and sporting activities. He was a keen gardener and an energetic player of tennis, squash rackets and golf. During his early years in South Africa he had been an accomplished rugby footballer, mountaineer and water polo player, and he swam for Western Province. Throughout his working life, he and his wife dispensed warm hospitality at their home, later retiring to Anglesey and then to Cambridge. In 1940 he married Norah Eileen Milroy, later a Liverpool magistrate, and when he died on 25 February 1989 he was survived by her and their two daughters, Patricia and Hilary.