Dennis Owen Clark was born at Kawimbe, Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), on 18 August, 1907. His father was a missionary. He was educated at Eltham College, where he obtained exemption from the first MB and an entrance scholarship to St Thomas's Hospital when he won the Hadden Toller Prize. He graduated in 1931 and took the FRCS the following year. In 1933 he joined a practice at Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, and in 1938 also became an honorary assistant surgeon at Queen Alexandra Memorial Hospital. During the second world war he was appointed MBE for his courageous work in an air raid. This was in 1942, immediately before he joined the RAMC, in which he served for four years and attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. In 1946, after demobilization, he left general practice to devote all his time to consulting surgical work in the hospital. He continued to develop a specialized department in ENT work and was able during the next twenty five years to achieve considerable success. He initiated a new service in which help was taken to the elderly deaf in their own homes. He gave devoted service to the St John Ambulance Association, which he joined in 1937, reaching high rank in the county and national organizations. He married Miss Bearden in 1934 and they had one daughter and two sons, both of whom have a PhD in physics. His wonderfully courageous, determined, and warm hearted life ended on 13 December 1974, at the age of 67.