Christopher Rickford was a consultant general surgeon at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, Treliske, Truro. He was born in Norwich, Norfolk on 16 February 1942, the eldest son of Richard Braithwaite Keevil Rickford, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at St Thomas’ Hospital, London, and Dorothy Rickford née Lathan. He attended Lambrook Preparatory School in Bracknell, Berkshire and then Sherborne School in Dorset, where he was head of a house. He went on to Trinity Hall, Cambridge and St Thomas’s Hospital Medical School for his clinical studies. He qualified in 1966. He was a preregistration house surgeon at St Thomas’ and then a house physician at Worthing Hospital. Christopher then returned to St Thomas’ as a casualty officer. There he was also an anatomy demonstrator teaching undergraduates whilst preparing for his primary FRCS exam. He was a senior house officer at Bath and then returned to St Thomas’ as a surgical registrar, where he worked for a vascular surgeon and for a talented endocrine surgeon. In 1979 he was appointed as a consultant general surgeon at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Treliske, Truro. He became a specialist in many areas of surgery, especially aortic aneurysm. In his later career he specialised in the management of breast cancer, varicose veins and endocrine work. He was clinical director of surgery and theatres for seven years, chairman of the Mermaid Project, Truro’s dedicated breast cancer centre, and chairman of Duchy Private Hospital for 10 years. Christopher was a kind, pleasant, efficient and quick professional surgeon. A good listener, he was sensible, realistic and technically a surgeon with a great many skills. A much-loved family man, he rarely talked about his work at home. In April 1966 he married Maureen Bell Jones, and they had 57 devoted years together. They had three children, Clare, Caroline and Nicholas, and six grandchildren. Predeceased by his son, Christopher sadly died on 3 July 2023 at the age of 81.