Arkyl Staveley Gough was born on 16 September 1900 and after completing his early education became a cadet pilot in the newly formed Royal Air Force. He was demobilised in 1919 and entered Guy's Hospital Medical School, qualifying in 1925. During his student years he served in the Territorial Army with the Artists' Rifles and represented London University at athletics - gaining a blue. Shortly after qualification he entered general practice at Watford but studied for the FRCS which he passed in 1929. He continued with his general practice which included part-time duties as a general surgeon at Peace Memorial Hospital until 1948. His forthright opinions and interest in committee work attracted his attention towards medical politics. He served as Chairman of the North West Hertfordshire and Watford Division of the British Medical Association and was a member of the Association's Council from 1943 to 1960. In 1948, with the introduction of the Health Service, he left his general practice and became a consultant general surgeon. His interests were wide-ranging and he continued in administration, serving as a member of the North West Regional Hospital Board from 1947 to 1968 and as Chairman of the Harefield and Northwood Hospital Management Committee from 1966 to 1974. In addition to these commitments he was Chairman of the Watford and Bushey St John Ambulance Brigade and the local branch of the British Rheumatism Association. After his retirement from surgical practice in 1965 he continued his committee work until the Health Service reorganisation in 1974 and then devoted his energies to his garden and greenhouses. He died on 23 February 1990 at the age of 89 and is survived by his wife Aileen and two daughters, one of whom qualified as a nurse at the Middlesex Hospital and is married to a surgeon.