John Patrick Sexton (“Jack”), who died recently at the age of 93, had two careers, first in the Colonial Medical Service in Nigeria, and second in health service management in Scotland.

Born in 1915 in Saugar, central India, son and grandson to career officers in the army in India, Jack spent most of his early life in that country and was educated at St Joseph’s College in Nainital.

When he decided on medicine as a profession his father sought the advice of the civil surgeon at Fyzabad. An Indian, he himself had trained in Edinburgh and recommended that Jack could not do better than be sent there.

However, on presenting himself to the medical school in Edinburgh, Jack was informed not only that the 1934 intake had already been picked but also that his Indian educational qualifications were not recognised. Undaunted, he decided to find private tutors to enable him to complete the necessary exams and was duly accepted …