Melvyn Roland Griffiths (Mel) Robinson was a consultant urologist at Pontefract General Infirmary. He was born on 17 May 1933 in Wolverhampton, the son of Noah Robinson, a managing director in the pressed steel industry, and Hilda Emily Robinson née Griffiths, a secretary. He attended St Agnes’ Preparatory School in Willenhall, Staffordshire and then Wolverhampton Grammar School, and went on to study medicine at Charing Cross Medical School. He qualified in 1957. He was a house surgeon at Harrow Hospital and at the Charing Cross unit at Kingsbury Hospital (in obstetrics), and then a casualty officer at Charing Cross Hospital. From January 1960 to December 1962 he was a medical officer in the Colonial Service and for the northern Nigerian Government. On his return to the UK, he became an orthopaedic registrar at Charing Cross Hospital. He was then a surgical registrar at Mount Vernon Hospital and at St James’ Hospital, Balham. From 1969 to 1972, he was a senior registrar and research fellow at St Peter’s Hospitals, Institute of Urology, London, where he was influenced by John Blandy, John Douglas Fergusson and David Innes Williams. In 1972 he was appointed as the first consultant urologist at Pontefract General Infirmary, and at Castleford and Goole hospitals, an appointment he held until his retirement in December 1995. From 1990 to 1995 he was director of surgery at Pontefract General Infirmary. He was also an honorary senior lecturer in clinical urology at the Institute of Urology, Middlesex and University College Hospital Medical School, London. He described the expansion of the urology department during his time at Pontefract: ‘…new therapeutic techniques & associated technology were rapidly developing. It was very satisfactory during my time as a consultant introducing new therapeutic techniques, urodynamics, ESWL [extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy], clinical audit, urology nurse specialist, laser surgery, laparoscopic surgery to the unit.’ He was also able to take part in research: ‘I was … fortunate to be invited by Mr Philip Clark and Mr Bob Williams to participate in the weekly meetings in the Urological Dept at Leeds General Infirmary. It was there that I met the late Professor E C Cooper and Mr Philip Smith who introduced me to the EORTC (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer). This allowed me to participate in clinical research with many organisations and departments, including MRC [Medical Research Council], The Department of Experimental Cancer Research at Leeds, and the Institute in Cardiff. This enabled me to introduce many new urological techniques at Pontefract including the use of PSA [Prostate-Specific Antigen] in the control of Prostatic Cancer and … systemic chemotherapy for bladder cancer.’ He was a member of the advisory committee of the Yorkshire Regional Cancer Organisation, of the testicular tumour research group of the Yorkshire Regional Health Authority and the Medical Research Council’s working groups on testicular cancer and superficial bladder cancer. He was secretary of the British Prostate Group. He was a member of the British Association of Surgical Oncology, the European Urological Society and the International Urological Society. Outside medicine, he enjoyed tennis, soccer, gardening, local history, rambling and travel. In 1972 he married Rosalind Kitching, a personal assistant. They had two children – Emma Claire and Matthew James. Robinson died on 14 December 2018. He was 85.