William Holt Lonsdale was born in Macclesfield on 8 March 1919, to Thomas William Holt Lonsdale and his wife Winifred. His father was a general practitioner, as were two paternal uncles. From Ellesmere College, Shropshire, he went to Manchester University Medical School in 1936 and qualified MB, ChB in 1942. He passed MRCS, LRCP in 1945 and obtained the FRCS in 1949. He held a series of junior posts in and around Manchester, was senior registrar in Preston Royal Infirmary and Manchester Royal Infirmary and was appointed consultant surgeon to Preston and Chorley group in 1959. He served in the RAMC from 1942 to 1946 in North Africa as RMO and later in Italy, France, Belgium, and Holland as blood transfusion officer. He was ship's medical officer for 3 months in the Mediterranean, then surgical trainee at 27th General Hospital in Cairo. In 1954 he married Edith Hesketh (SRCN) and they had a daughter and two sons. Lonsdale was an experienced and proficient surgeon and an excellent administrator. With F S A Doran he published an important paper on the evaluation of Bassini and other types of herniorrhaphy, Whilst he was a keen golfer and waterskier his main sport was sailing. He held the yacht master and radiotelephone certificates, and captained his own boat in Isle of Man North Sea races. He was fond of travelling and enjoyed learning new languages. He was a quiet, modest man who lived life to the full. He died on 14 April 1988 aged 69 years survived by his wife and children, Patricia, Peter and Jonathan.