Sir Paul Bramley was a professor of dental surgery at the University of Sheffield. He was born in Leicester on 24 May 1923 to Charles Bramley and Constance Bramley née Jordan, the younger of their two sons. His father was a gifted engineering draughtsman; neither of his parents had a medical background. He was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School in Leicester, where his athleticism led to him excelling at rugby. A committed Christian, he joined the Crusaders’ Christian Union, known today as the Urban Saints. When applying for university, he chose dentistry, thinking it would be an easier option than medicine, but a local dentist, one of the leaders of the Crusader Group, persuaded him to read medicine as well. He went to Birmingham University at the height of the Second World War and found himself involved with others in civil defence. At night, they kept watch and dealt with such hazards as incendiary bombs, firefighting before the bombs did more damage. He also found time to captain the university rugby team and to play for the English Universities. Once qualified as a dentist, he was called-up to do his National Service in the Royal Army Dental Corps. An early opportunity arose for him to volunteer for secondment to the 224 Parachute Field Ambulance, part of the 6th Airborne Division in Palestine, which he accepted, since he felt this would be a much more exciting way of serving his two years. He had to jump many times, dangling a portable dental chair from his pack. Following this, he was able to return to Birmingham to complete his medical degree, which he had to self-fund by working evenings and weekends in a dental practice. In 1952, shortly before he qualified as a doctor, he went on a climbing holiday in the Lake District, where he met Morag Boyd, a medical student in Glasgow, who was planning to become a medical missionary for the Church of Scotland. It was not long before they decided to marry. However, Paul had to ask permission from her father, who firstly wanted some questions answered. Was Paul’s income adequate to keep her? ‘No, I’m a medical student.’ Next, did he have good job prospects? ‘No, I am not yet qualified.’ Lastly, did he have a life insurance policy? ‘No, I’m still a reservist attached to the parachute regiment and we are not eligible for life policies.’ They married shortly afterwards and he joined her in running a 100-bedded hospital in a remote area of Kenya, where you never knew what would walk through the door. Equipped with an emergency surgery textbook open on a music stand and one of them reading out the text, they performed everything, including wildly heroic surgery under primitive anaesthesia. It taught both of them self-reliance and the ability to adapt. After a year, they returned to the UK to start a family and for Paul to complete his specialty training, which he did as a registrar at the unit run by Harold Gillies and Norman Rowe and still housed at its war time emergency facilities in Rooksdown House, Basingstoke. A year later he was appointed to a consultant post in Plymouth, Devon and the Royal Cornwall Infirmary, Truro. The challenge was enormous since there were no facilities west of Bristol, seat belts did not exist, crash helmets were seldom worn, windscreens were only of toughened glass and cattle roamed freely across the unlit and unfenced moors. Although Plymouth was his main base, together with Truro, he went on in his role as director of oral surgery and orthodontics for the region to oversee units being created in Exeter and Torbay. With such an enormous area to cover it meant his team in Plymouth had to develop self-reliance and were encouraged to get on with whatever they were capable of and prepare the other cases for his return. He was a very capable surgeon and took a lot of trouble to teach his trainees a safe way of coping with a wide range of clinical cases. With this reputation, it was inevitable that he would be elected to the board of faculty at the Royal College of Surgeons and subsequently to the council, as well as becoming dean of Faculty along the way. His interest in education and training were marked in these College positions and, in 1969, he was tempted by the University of Sheffield to become professor of dental surgery and a consultant to the Trent Regional Health Authority (from 1969 to 1988). His subsequent appointment as dean of the school of clinical dentistry (from 1972 to 1975) saw him fulfilling the true lure of his Sheffield appointment when he oversaw a total rebuilding of the school of clinical dentistry, together with its entire undergraduate curriculum. This was a time of significant change in dental education focused on the Nuffield Foundation’s Inquiry into Dental Education, which he very significantly supported (from 1978 to 1980). He had served as one of the few clinicians on the Royal Commission on the NHS (1976 to 1979) and for this and his services to dentistry and surgery, he was recognised in 1984 by the award of a knighthood. He also received the prestigious award of the Colyer gold medal from the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the RCS, was national president of the British Dental Association (from 1988 to 1989), and an RCS external examiner to dental professional bodies and to many universities at home and abroad. He received honorary degrees from Birmingham, Sheffield and the Prince of Songkla University in Thailand. At home in Plymouth, he and Morag had a busy life. They raised their family of three daughters and a son, living in a village near Plymouth and Paul became a lay reader in the Anglican diocese of Winchester. Together they created a Sunday school on a nearby housing estate with no active church life, which grew rapidly to accommodate 300 children with 20 volunteer teachers. He considered this one of the most rewarding experiences in his life as well as the best possible training for a university teacher! In retirement, his enthusiasm and activity were still apparent, remaining as director of the Medical Protection Society and chairman of Dental Protection Ltd. He was a stalwart member of Hathersage Parish Church and edited a book on retirement (*Doing anything after work? …What about retirement?* Hucklow Publishing, 2010). Sadly, Morag died three years ago, whom he greatly missed. Despite physical handicaps, he lived independently almost until the end and was survived by his four children, 12 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. He believed our role in this world was to serve our fellow beings and this is exemplified by all he did.