[1] Born in Ireland, he was educated at Monkton Combe School in Bath, and then studied medicine at Trinity College, Dublin.
He was awarded the MBE in 1942 for his military work, and mentioned in despatches in 1945 for his service in Burma; after the war, he was given the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the RAMC.
[2] He then began to teach medicine, and was appointed to the post of Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh in 1949, along with the position of honorary consulting physician at the Western General Hospital.
[2] In 1979 he was appointed President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, holding the position until 1982.
Other medical work in his later career included sitting as a member of the Medicines Commission from 1976 to 1983, and as the chair of the Scottish Health Education Co-Ordinating Committee from 1986 to 1988.