William Beattie was a consultant surgeon in Liverpool. He was born in Sheffield on 1 February 1911. He was the second child of James Martin Beattie, Professor of Bacteriology at the University of Liverpool and Margaret Crow née Kettle. He was educated at Fettes, from which he won an open exhibition to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He returned to Liverpool to study clinical medicine and after qualifying did junior appointments at Liverpool Royal Infirmary and Walton Hospital, Liverpool, where he worked for Sir Robert Kelly and J Cosbie Ross. During the war he served in Palestine, India, Burma and East Africa, reaching the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. On demobilisation he returned to Liverpool as consultant surgeon to the United Liverpool Hospitals, Sefton General Hospital, and Runcorn Hospital. He was a clinical lecturer at the University. He was a stalwart of the Liverpool Medical Institution, serving as general secretary and vice-president. In 1943 he married Margaret Elizabeth née Vyrnwy-Jones, a nurse. They had a son (a dental surgeon) and daughter. He was a keen gardener and cited as his hobbies car maintenance and canal cruising. He reluctantly took full retirement at 70 and, after Margaret died in 1990, he moved to Wiltshire and continued to enjoy his gardening and the company of his four grandchildren. He died on 31 July 2001 and his son-in-law, John E Morgan contributed a moving obituary of him to the *British Medical Journal*.