Malcolm Swann was a consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon in the Windsor area. He was born on 7 August 1931 in west London, the son of Edward Leon Swann and Margaret Mary Swann née Ridge. He attended a school in Kensington, but in 1939, when the Second World War had broken out, he was sent away, aged eight, to a boarding school to escape the bombing, like many other London children. Later he attended Brighton College public school. He went on to study medicine at Westminster Hospital Medical School and qualified in 1955. After he graduated, he carried out his National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was based in Malaya during the conflict in that country, serving the troops stationed there, and once a week he flew to Penang. On his return to England, he commenced orthopaedic training at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) and at Great Ormond Street Hospital, where he developed an interest in children’s orthopaedics. While working at the RNOH he was seconded for two years to a bush hospital in Nigeria and so began his love of Africa. He was appointed as a consultant to the Windsor group of hospitals in 1967, comprising Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot, King Edward VII Hospital in Windsor, St Mark’s Hospital in Maidenhead, the Canadian Red Cross Hospital in Taplow and the newly built Wexham Park Hospital in Slough. He ran a busy trauma and orthopaedic practice at Heatherwood and Wexham with three colleagues. He worked alongside Barbara Ansell, consultant rheumatologist at the Canadian Red Cross Hospital specialising in treating juvenile idiopathic arthritis, where both built an international reputation in the management of this disease. Medical management was not nearly as successful as it is now, and this was immensely challenging work, carrying out soft tissue surgery and joint replacement in children and young adults with stunted growth and severe joint deformity. He also ran a very successful private practice from his consulting rooms in Windsor. He served as honorary secretary of the British Orthopaedic Association from 1984 to 1985. On retirement, a ward at Wexham was named after him. After fully retiring from the NHS at 70, he continued to work as a volunteer abroad for over 20 years. He initially worked with World Orthopaedic Concern and Mercy Ships UK. He then joined Richard Brueton and Chris Lavy in Blantyre, Malawi at the Beit Cure Hospital (an American Christian charity hospital). After the two other surgeons returned to the UK, he ran the hospital before spending a short time working in Ethiopia. He then moved to Zambia to oversee the completion and equipping of the Beit Cure Hospital in Lusaka, becoming its medical director. He finally stopped operating at 80 but continued to manage the hospital and teach medicine in Lusaka until he was over 90! His work in Africa was rightly recognised with an MBE in 2010. Malcolm was always ready to help the children he saw in Africa in many ways. He often found that after operating on the feet or legs of young children, correcting their deformities, they had no shoes to go home in. So, Malcolm would take them into town and buy them trainers to go home in. Every time he came home to the UK, he would return to Lusaka with a suitcase bulging with new trainers that he had bought. He helped many young people, in particular three young brothers he knew who had lost their father. Malcolm made sure that they completed their schooling and sponsored them through university. Malcolm died on 31 October 2024 at the age of 93: he left an amazing medical legacy and was a wonderful colleague.