Lionel George Higgins was born on 26 May 1891 in Bedford, son of Frederick George Higgins, a merchant. He was educated privately on account of juvenile rheumatic fever and went on to Clare College, Cambridge, and St Thomas's Hospital. He qualified in 1917, obtained his FRCS in 1920 and MD in 1956. He passed the MRCOG in 1934 and was elected FRCOG in 1957. He served as Temporary Surgeon Lieutenant in the Royal Navy. His principal appointment was as consulting gynaecologist and obstetrician to the Woking Hospitals. His chief outside interest was entomology. He was a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society and he was the co-author of the *Field guide to butterflies of Britain and Europe*, Collins, 1970, a standard work on the subject. In 1982 the Linnean Society awarded him their H H Bloomer award for "an amateur naturalist making a significant contribution to biological knowledge". In 1925 he married Nesta Farquhar. They had three sons, the eldest of whom is medical, working in Victoria, British Columbia. He died in his 95th year, on 9 October 1985.