President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh between 1979 and 1982

Professor John Gillingham came as a consultant neurosurgeon to Edinburgh in 1950 and then in 1963 succeeded Norman Dott to be the second holder of the Forbes Chair of Surgical Neurology at the University of Edinburgh.

Throughout his clinical life he maintained a strong interest in College affairs and was elected to the Fellowship of the RCSEd in 1953. Earlier, by examination, he had become a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Professor Patrick Stewart Boulter, President of the College from 1991 to 1994, died on St Andrew’s Day 2009 and everyone who had the privilege and pleasure of knowing him is left by his passing with a deep sense of impoverishment. Iain MacLaren looks back on his life and career

In as much as he was the first holder of the College’s highest office never to have either trained or practised in Edinburgh, his election to the Presidency is a significant landmark in recent College history but that is the least of the many reasons why Fellows and Members worldwide unite in saluting his memory ith respect and affection. Paddy, as he was always known to his family, his colleagues and his legion of friends from all walks of life, was born to Scottish parents in Annan, Dumfriesshire, in 1927.