Paul Townsend was born on 27 December 1937 in Hendon. During his early years the family lived in Radlett, Hertfordshire and, during the early years of the second world war, he remembered that he could see the bombs falling on London during the Blitz. His father worked as an army officer and later became an accountant. Paul attended Epsom College and initially studied for a degree in anatomy before qualifying in medicine from University College Hospital (UCH), London, in 1963. During his time there he apparently led a student trip to Russia – greatly daring as it was at the height of the cold war. After various house jobs at UCH, he passed the fellowship of the college in 1968 and moved to Canada, working as a surgeon in British Columbia. In 1972 he passed the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada and then returned to the UK to take up a post as registrar at Odstock Hospital in Salisbury, followed by work as a senior registrar at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol. The British Association of Plastic Surgeons (BAPS) awarded him the Mowlem award in 1978 for the important research he did during those years. He then spent a year in Melbourne, Australia, as a research fellow, working with Ian Taylor on the early development of microsurgery. Returning to Frenchay Hospital in 1979, he was appointed consultant plastic surgeon and, from 1992 until 2005 when he retired from the NHS, senior consultant plastic surgeon. From the early time in Melbourne he continued to develop his microsurgery skills – it was said that his first operation in Bristol using that technique lasted 22 hours. He developed various classic techniques that are still in use today, such as the deep circumflex iliac artery (DCIA) flap and the ‘double barreling’ of a free fibula flap. On founding the first microsurgery practice laboratory in the UK, he initiated the use of the human placenta as a surgical model. Another innovation was the setting up of the UK’s first pigmented lesion clinic and using a dermoscope for early diagnosis of melanoma. The Laser Centre of the South West was another of his initiatives. He also travelled to Uganda on charitable medical missions and, on one occasion, according to his son, transformed the life of a man ostracised by his community because he had lost his jaw to infection. Paul provided him with a new jaw formed out of a leg bone. He was hugely active on various committees both locally and nationally. A member of BAPS, he served on their council from 1985 to 1988. Chair of the South West Advisory Committee for Plastic Surgery, he was regional specialty representative in plastic surgery for the college. He was a member of the British Associaton of Aesthethic Plastic Surgeons, the British Society for Surgery of the Hand, the British Burns Association, the Melanoma Study Group, the South West Surgical Club, the Cosham Medical Society and the Bristol Medico– Having retired from the NHS he continued to operate privately for Bristol Plastic Surgery into his 70s – his success rates apparently well exceeding younger colleagues. A keen gardener, he had also enjoyed playing rugby in his youth and continued to support the Bristol Bears. He loved history, especially the study of ancient Egypt and watching old films. He met his wife Mary at UCH and they married in 1967. They had three sons Andrew, Nicholas and Christopher. When he died from pancreatic cancer on 11 August 2019 aged 81, he was survived by Mary, their three sons and grandchildren Poppy and Charlie.