James Leslie Hardwick was a professor of preventive dentistry at the University of Manchester and a pioneer of children’s dentistry. He was born on 27 March 1913, the son of George Hardwicke Hardwick and Mary Ann Hardwick née Halliday. He attended Rugby School and then studied dentistry at the University of Birmingham’s dental school, becoming one of the first students to gain the newly established BDS degree there. He was a general dental practitioner until the outbreak of the Second World War, when he served as a specialist in the Royal Army Dental Corps in India and Burma. Following his demobilisation in 1945, he joined the staff of the University of Birmingham dental school as a lecturer, becoming a senior lecturer in 1948 and a reader in dental surgery in 1952. His primary focus was on children’s dentistry. He was among the first academic dentists in the UK to teach preventive dentistry; his influence helped establish the discipline as a core element of dental education. In 1960 Hardwick was appointed to the chair of preventive dentistry at the Turner Dental School, Manchester, where he also became head of the department of children’s dentistry and orthodontics. There he developed a strong teaching programme and was instrumental in encouraging the formation of the north west group of the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry. He placed particular emphasis on research, instituting an active programme within the department, and undertook important investigations into the action and metabolism of fluoride. He had a long and distinguished association with the Organization for Caries Research, serving as secretary and president. He travelled widely, lectured throughout Europe and advised on dental education in Nigeria, Kenya and Indonesia. He was closely involved in fostering the academic link between the dental schools of Manchester and Surabaya, Indonesia. He retired in 1978. In 1954 he married Eileen Margaret Isobel Gibson. They had two sons and two daughters. Hardwick died on 12 November 2004 at the age of 91.