Ruth Wynne-Davies was a unique and important figure in British orthopaedics. As a geneticist she made significant contributions to our understanding of diverse musculo-skeletal conditions, both common and rare. She had an international reputation in the area of skeletal dysplasias (developmental dis

Born 25 March 1886 at Blackford, Perthshire, the third child and second son of John Lawson, banker, and Lillias J Sharp, his wife. He went to school at Crieff Academy and then entered Edinburgh University, where he graduated in arts and later took first-class honours in medicine. He served as house