James Firth Heslop was born in South Shields and studied medicine at Manchester University, where he graduated with honours in 1933. As a house surgeon he came under the influence of John Morley and took the FRCS in 1936, becoming in turn registrar to the surgical outpatients department, resident casualty officer, and resident surgical officer at Manchester Royal Infirmary. As senior registrar to Sir Geoffrey Jefferson he began a training in neurosurgery for which his gentleness, operative skill and outstanding clinical judgement would have fitted him admirably. When offered a travelling scholarship to Baltimore he elected to do a year's training in urology but returned home as soon as war was declared to join the RAMC. He served with the 14th Army in Burma and was mentioned in the dispatches and appointed MBE. When the war ended he was appointed consultant surgeon to Park Hospital, Davyhulme, where, as well as building up an excellent service in urology, his reputation in wider subjects, such as diseases of the thyroid, was well established. A few weeks before his retirement he had an accident and never fully recovered from its effects. He died in 1978, aged 67 years, survived by his elder brother, also a Fellow of the College.