Norman Adrian Boyd was born on 1 May 1934 in Hendon, the son of the Reverend Norman Robert Boyd who was a vicar in the Church of England and his wife Kathleen née Humby. After attending Arnold House Preparatory School in North London, he went to Marlborough College and then studied medicine at Charing Cross Hospital Medical School. He qualified MB, BS in 1958 and did house jobs at Charing Cross, Birmingham Accident and Great Ormond Street Hospitals. While he was at Charing Cross he worked with the renowned orthopaedic surgeon David Trevor, who may well have influenced his choice of specialty. He passed the fellowship of the college in 1966 and joined the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) working as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in military hospitals in Woolwich, Millbank, Tidworth and Birmingham. Attached to a military surgical team, he served in the conflicts of Cyprus, Jordan and Belfast for which he was awarded the OBE. He also gained the MS (Military Standard), the Order of St John and the General Service Medal clasp for Northern Ireland. In 1976 he left the army with the rank of lieutenant colonel and joined the staff of St Mary’s Hospital, Newport as consultant orthopaedic surgeon. Later he also worked at the Orchard Hospital in Newport and became joint coordinator of the Isle of Wight NHS orthopaedic department, accident and emergency and intensive treatment unit. He combined this work with occasional duties on the mainland, including at Great Ormond Street Hospital. In 1957 he married Tina Horner and they had four children. A keen yachtsman all his life – he had been secretary of the RAMC Sailing Association – in retirement he continued to sail his boat, Nina, both in local waters and in the Mediterranean. He died on 8 June 2019 aged 85, survived by his wife and children.