Christopher Lincoln, who has died aged 92, was a pioneering heart surgeon, instrumental in the establishment of the paediatric heart surgery unit at the Royal Brompton Hospital.
In the 1960s cardiothoracic surgeons were trained in general thoracic surgery as well as in heart surgery, both adult and paediatric. Lincoln recognised that achieving good outcomes in babies and infants with complex congenital heart defects – deemed inoperable until a few years previously – would necessitate the establishment of specialist units, with staff trained in paediatric cardiac surgery. Together with Elliot Shinebourne and Bob Anderson, Lincoln established the new unit, which rapidly developed a reputation for excellence and innovation, attracting trainees from all over the world.
The second of three children, John Christopher Rutland Lincoln was born on December 10 1933 and spent his childhood in Gravesend, Kent, where his father, Harry, was a pharmacist. At King’s School, Rochester, he decided he wanted to study medicine, but since the school did not offer science subjects after school certificate, he enrolled in night classes to obtain the necessary qualifications and was admitted to the School of Medicine of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland in Dublin.
A keen horseman throughout his life, Lincoln rode to hounds at home in Kent and in Ireland, and as an undergraduate he supplemented his allowance by buying hacks, breaking them in and selling them on.