Peter Wilson was a meticulous neurosurgeon at Swansea who was committed to the highest standards of clinical care and fostered the same work ethic in his colleagues. He was born in Portsmouth on 8 April in 1933, the elder son of Herbert Wilson and Kathleen Wilson née Humphries. His father was an engineer who served in the Royal Navy and then, for a time, worked at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington. Peter and his younger brother, Martin, were raised in Tolworth in south London. He was educated at Surbiton County Grammar School, where he was particularly interested in the arts. He wrote and performed in school plays and was editor of the school magazine. Despite these artistic interests, however, his intention had always been to pursue a medical career. In 1950 Peter started training at Guy’s Hospital Medical School and qualified in 1956. Following a year as a house officer at Guy’s and in Putney, he undertook a National Service commission in the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1957 to 1959. While stationed at Le Marchant barracks in Wiltshire he showed considerable courage in dealing with a dangerous situation. A corporal under arrest, having escaped from his escort, locked himself into an arms store for several hours, refusing to come out, and had fired shots through a wooden door. Peter approached the room and, after talking quietly to the man for some time, managed to persuade him to hand out the weapons and ammunition through a small window; he was then able to escort him back to his cell. Peter commenced a period of neurosurgical training at the Maudsley Hospital in 1959 and, having then undertaken registrar posts in other surgical specialties, obtained the FRCS (Edinburgh) and FRCS (England) in 1962. He entered post-fellowship neurosurgical training at the Guy’s-Maudsley unit in 1963, as both a registrar and a senior registrar, on a programme which rotated annually with the Brook Hospital, Shooter’s Hill. He was trained by Murray Falconer, Peter Schurr and Jeffrey Maccabe at the Maudsley, and by Geoffrey Knight, John Gibbs and George Northcroft at the Brook; and also by the renowned neuroradiologist, Richard Hoare. During this time, he was remembered not only as a highly-regarded trainee by his consultants, but also as a marvellous draughtsman whose meticulous drawings in the operation notes and in the clinical records were admired by his contemporaries. It should be recalled that this was before the introduction of computerised neuro-radiological imaging, so that such illustrations formed an important part of clinical practice. It was also during this time that he developed his clinical skills, in large measure as a consequence of regular Saturday morning training sessions (almost compulsory for trainees and consultant staff alike) with neurologists at Guy’s Hospital. Knowledge acquired from such sources led to his later description of himself as a ‘surgical neurologist’ rather than as a neurosurgeon. During the Second World War, neurosurgical care in the south west of England was provided in Bristol, with cases from south Wales also being transferred there. Subsequently, regional centres were developed in Cardiff and at Morriston Hospital, Swansea. When the original consultant neurosurgeon, Charles Langmaid, moved back to Cardiff he was replaced by Norman Whalley, who was subsequently joined by Donald Provan. Sadly, both surgeons died at a young age. They were replaced by Peter Wilson (in 1968) and Ian Cast (in 1970). Between them they laid the foundations for, and developed, a thriving department, which covered a wide range of adult and paediatric neurosurgical practice in what was perhaps the ‘golden age’ of the generalist. In keeping with their Maudsley Hospital training close links were developed with the departments of neurology and radiology. Contact with referring hospitals was established by the introduction of peripheral clinics in Neath, Bridgend, Aberystwyth and Carmarthen. Theatre and ward standards had always been high and, in 1975, Peter, together with Ian Cast, managed to establish one of the earliest neurointensive care units in the UK by setting aside several dedicated beds on the neurosurgical ward. In 1976 Morriston Hospital had its first CT scanner, but this was used as an adjunct to, rather than as a replacement for, clinical assessment. In 1977, a dedicated spina bifida unit was opened in collaboration with the department of neurosurgery, a development which came about as a result of the high incidence of neural tube defects at that time. Peter is remembered as a methodical and painstaking clinician who showed great attention to detail and as a writer of copious notes in a beautiful script. Whilst at times he could appear a somewhat imposing figure, he showed great commitment to the welfare of patients and to the training of medical and nursing staff, and allied professions. In particular, he recognised the importance of neuropsychology in the management and rehabilitation of head injured patients, and he gave encouragement and training opportunities to neuropsychology trainees. Indeed, the unit which he helped to develop was one of the first to have a ward-based neuropsychologist. He had a particular interest in surgery for spinal stenosis and in the management of cerebral aneurysms for which treatment options included proximal (Hunterian) carotid ligation (a technique he had learned from John Gibbs), wrapping or clipping. At the time of his retirement his legacy was of an active training unit with a well-motivated team of ward and theatre staff. Over many years, Peter had numerous letters published in the *British Medical Journal*. The subject matter of these contributions was diverse, a reflection of his own broad-ranging intellectual interests. A short list should give a sense of the variety of his contributions: nail-gun injuries; a possible diagnosis of ulcerative colitis in Bonnie Prince Charlie; functional budgeting in the NHS; diagnosis of brain death, the effects of hemispherectomy for epilepsy in children; and (leaning heavily upon his classical education and with tongue definitely in cheek) a learned contribution on ‘the humble fart’. A contemporary consultant colleague who remembers him with affection provides further insight into his character: ‘Peter was an erudite consultant colleague who was always logical, precise and highly articulate, and these qualities made him stand out in such a way that some colleagues found it difficult to get close to him. However, these qualities were overridden by kindness in his relationship with his patients in whose company he often appeared to be a different man. … He was not a committee man, but when there was an issue debated at the Swansea medical staff committee which could have adverse consequences for neuroscience he was a formidable advocate, ably supported by his close colleague Ian Cast. He was a man who was able to engineer and lead changes in a complex clinical scenario, embracing the amazing radiological developments that were occurring.’ He continued with his medico-legal practice long into retirement but found more time to indulge other intellectual pursuits, including music, literature, Scrabble, crosswords and gardening. Throughout his career, he had collected material focusing on how developments in philosophy had influenced western medical practice and had latterly embarked on putting this together as a PhD thesis. His interests were far-reaching and he was always keen to expand his range of knowledge so he was ever the ‘go to’ person for family, particularly for grandchildren looking for help with homework. Peter died on 15 December 2019 at the age of 86 and was survived by his wife of 55 years, Patience (née Wood). They had met on a general surgical ward at the Royal West Sussex Hospital in Chichester, where he was working as a surgical registrar in 1961. He made his first move by kissing her whilst dressed as Father Christmas. They were married the following July and three children soon followed, two of whom survive him. Mark, the eldest, trained as a primary school teacher but is now an artist. James trained as a physiotherapist but tragically died of leukaemia in 2002. Felicity, the youngest, was also a primary school teacher. He was also survived by seven grandchildren.