David Allen Crockford was born on 21 August 1930 in London. The son of Allen Lepard Crockford, CBE, DSO, MC, TD, MA, MB, BCh, MRCS, LRCP, late Brigadier, RAMC, and then Hon Surgeon to King George VI and HM the Queen. His mother was Doris Ellen, née Brookes-Smith. His early education was at St Pirans-on-the-Hill, Maidenhead, and Rugby. In 1951 he went up to King's College, Cambridge, where he took his BA in 1954 before entering St Thomas's Hospital Medical School. On qualifying 1957 he became successively house surgeon, casualty officer and surgical registrar at St Thomas's then for a time surgical registrar at Leicester Royal Infirmary where he was influenced by E R Frizelle. In 1965 he was appointed senior surgical registrar at St Thomas's before moving to Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, where he worked in the department of plastic and facio-maxillary surgery. This field became his main interest. After a year he was appointed a registrar in plastic surgery in Newcastle then senior registrar in the Newcastle University Hospital group. Here he worked for F Braithwaite and J R G Edwards. While senior registrar he spent the year from 1970 to 1971 as a visiting fellow in the Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery at the New York University Medical Centre. While there he made many friends and left a lasting impression of his sincerity and honest approach to his work. He contributed 'The transplantation of tendons' to the second edition of *Reconstructive plastic surgery*, edited by John Converse. On his return to Britain he continued to work in Newcastle and was appointed consultant plastic surgeon to the area health authority and senior registrar to the University Hospital. His special interests were hand and maxillo-facial surgery, particularly the primary and secondary problems of children with cleft lip and palate. He was carrying out research on the latter when he died. While at school at Rugby he distinguished himself by being the first boy ever to score a double 'possible' in the Ashburton Shield at Bisley. On leaving school he joined the Coldstream Guards to do his National Service, and was commissioned. He hoped to see service abroad, but his shooting skill was such that he was kept at home as an instructor. His other interests included sailing - he was a member of the Royal Ocean Racing Club - music, especially the classical guitar, at which he was proficient, gardening and cabinet-making. In 1962 he married Diane Mary Baynes, daughter of Dr Helton Godwin Baynes who wrote *The mythology of the soul*, *Germany possessed*, and other works relating to Jungian psychology. He died on 7 January, 1982, his wife and three daughters survived him.