Born at Adelaide, Australia on 13 February 1910, son of John Corbin, surgeon, and Margaret Ogilvie, he was educated at Queen's School, Adelaide and Geelong Grammar School, Victoria, after which he attended St Mark's College, University of Adelaide and graduated in medicine in 1933. While an undergraduate he obtained a blue for rifle shooting. He held house appointments in Adelaide and London, becoming a surgical registrar to the Birmingham General Hospital. In 1939 he was admitted a Fellow and during the early part of the second world war was employed in the Emergency Medical Service in London. In 1942 he joined the RAMC as a surgical specialist, serving until 1945 in the Middle East and Italy with the Eighth Army, acting as a forward surgeon at Anzio and Salerno. After the war for two years he was a consultant surgeon at Basingstoke but, becoming restless, he left for Nairobi in Kenya in 1952 to start a consultant surgical practice in urology. In 1960 he moved again, going back to his home town of Adelaide. He then left to fill a succession of contracts with the Governments of the Seychelles Islands 1962-1965 and of Lesotho 1966-1968; in 1970 he went to Sarawak with his family. Having been a clinical assistant at St Peter's Hospital in London, he had a special interest in urology but remained an able general surgeon. His relaxations included shooting, tennis and sailing. He died on 31 December 1971 in the Sarawak General Hospital aged 61, survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.