John Vernon Morris qualified in medicine from King's College Hospital. His first appointment was as research assistant in surgery at the West London Hospital and then he became senior surgical registrar at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital. He moved to the Plastic and Oral Surgery Centre, Odstock Hospital in Salisbury as a senior registrar and then to the West Dorset Hospital Group as consultant in trauma and reconstructive surgery. He was living in Weymouth when he died on 21 November 1978, survived by his wife.