Caroline Doig was a consultant paediatric surgeon in Manchester and the first woman elected to the council of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. She was not easy to miss in a crowded room: firstly, she was tall, but more importantly she had a formidable but likeable presence and was always surrounded by friends and colleagues. Born on 13 April 1938 in Forfar, Scotland to George William Lowson Doig, a master draper, and May Deeson Doig née Keir, a teacher, Caroline was not to know her father for he was killed in South Africa in 1942 during the Second World War when she was three and a half years old. This tragedy led to a very close relationship between Caroline and her mother, which endured until the death of her mother in 1997. Caroline attended medical school, initially at St Andrews for pre-clinical studies, moving to Dundee for her clinical training. She graduated MB ChB in 1962 and took up her first post in Dundee Royal Infirmary as a house surgeon to Sir Donald Douglas, who sparked her interest in surgery as a career. Following completion of pre-registration training posts, she became an anatomy demonstrator at Queen’s College, Dundee, subsequently passing her primary FRCS in 1964. Furthering her wish to be a surgeon, she applied for senior house officer posts, at which time she encountered the first prejudice against women graduates wishing to be surgeons. She was fortunate to gain a post in Darlington, where she worked with Kenneth McKeown, the renowned general and oesophageal surgeon. In 1965, she obtained a post at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow; here she realised that the developing specialty of paediatric surgery was what she wanted to do. Following completion of her time in Glasgow in 1966, she returned to Dundee to undertake a period of research, supervised by Sir Donald Douglas, into wound infection. When presenting her results at a meeting of the Surgical Research Society, she was introduced to Andrew Wilkinson of Great Ormond Street Hospital, a meeting which was subsequently to bear fruit. It was during this time that she passed her FRCS Edinburgh, but was advised that should she wish to work in London she would need to be a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. In 1970, she was appointed to a senior registrar post at Great Ormond Street Hospital, an appointment that offered the opportunity of work with some of the great names in paediatric surgery and to publish papers with them. One important feature of her training was the opportunity to spend a year ‘off site’, this she did at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh. Although tempted to remain in the south for her consultant career, Caroline wanted to move back north to be in easier reach of her homeland whilst still practising in the heart of England where there was so much development in children’s surgery to be carried out. Consequently, when a teaching hospital appointment in paediatric surgery was advertised in Manchester, she applied for it and was successful. Caroline was for 25 years, commencing in August 1975, senior lecturer in paediatric surgery in the department of surgery at Manchester University based at Booth Hall Children’s Hospital, but with on call duties at Pendlebury Children’s Hospital in Salford and the Duchess of York Hospital in south Manchester, as well as at the new surgical neonatal unit at St Mary’s Hospital attached to Manchester Royal Infirmary. Colorectal surgery became her chosen subspecialty, although, as one of only a small number of paediatric surgeons serving five children’s hospitals in the Manchester region, she had to deploy her skills widely, especially when covering emergencies and trauma. She had a particular interested in childhood constipation and adopted one part of a ward for their treatment, which was called ‘The House at Pooh Corner’. She was universally liked by children and their parents, many of the latter commenting on her kindness and empathy, especially when children were seriously ill. Possibly because of her huge workload, she was not a major surgical innovator or clinical researcher, although she continued to publish within her specialty. She was however interested in the wider field of medical politics; she was president of the Medical Women’s Federation from 1985 to 1986 and was a member of the General Medical Council from 1989 to 1999. Caroline loved going on the overseas visits of both Royal Colleges, not only to examine but also to meet fellow paediatric surgeons, amongst whom she was widely known. These visits also offered her the opportunity to lead other women in the groups to visit souks and local jewellers, from which she would emerge with precious stones and pearls, some of the latter being of such a size and quality as to enter into the realms of RCS social history! As a proud Scot, she kept her soft Scottish accent, which survived her quarter of a century residence in Manchester. She was noteworthy in being equally loyal to the English and Scottish Royal Colleges, in both of which she was an active until her death. After retirement from the practise of surgery in 2000, she turned her attention increasingly to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. In 1984 Caroline had become the first woman surgeon to be elected to the council of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and served for two terms of office. To mark this historic event, in 2000 she established a medal, the Hunter Doig medal, to commemorate her appointment to the council, joined with the name of Alison Headwards-Hunter, the first woman to pass the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (in 1920). The Hunter Doig medal is awarded to female fellows or members of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh who demonstrate career potential and ambition. In latter years, Caroline brought to fulfillment her long-planned ambition to write her autobiography, knowing that after her death there would be no relatives left to secure her memory, though there were many friends and godchildren who could have fulfilled the task. Titled somewhat enigmatically *Enilorac* (Caroline spelt backwards) and subtitled *Hands of a lady* (UK, AuthorHouse, 2018), the book is an account of the difficult career progression of a woman surgeon in times gone past and how she strived successfully to reach the peak of her chosen profession. At the beginning of November 2019, Caroline, as usual, attended the London meeting of the senior fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons, where she was cheerful, regal and relaxed amongst her friends and admirers. She returned to her flat in Edinburgh and died peacefully in her sleep a few days later on 14 November. She was 81.