John Biddulph was born on 15 January 1935, at Salisbury in England, the son of Kathleen and Robert Biddulph. His mother, whose maiden name was Fletcher-Jones, had been a nurse prior to her marriage. His father was employed by the British Government administration in Nigeria and Gambia, West Africa, so the family were parted much of the time. In 1938, John, accompanied by his sisters Jane and Mary (Mez), travelled to Gambia where they were the first white children. The family returned to England during the Battle of Britain. John excelled at school, initially at Chafyn Grove and subsequently at Wellington College for his secondary education. His father was anxious for John to go into the army, but he simply replied, 'No I’m going to heal people, not kill them'. This pleased John’s mother who had been a nurse, and her father, who was a medical missionary in China.

The family migrated to Sydney, Australia in 1952, and to help him financially through his medical course in Sydney, John worked in a flourmill and subsequently won a Papua New Guinea cadetship. In 1956, as a 5th year medical student, he went to Port Moresby for a week of orientation at Ella Beach before spending the next six weeks working in Samarai near Milne Bay. On his return he was fired with enthusiasm for the country, and particularly its people, and made a decision to serve these people as a doctor. He graduated from the University of Sydney in 1959, and was awarded the Major Ian Vickery Paediatric Prize. After completing his residency at Sydney Hospital and at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, he was appointed as Medical Officer in Lae in 1961, and subsequently moved to Port Moresby.

There he met Mary Ann Harper, a nursing sister who noted the lack of nurse educators in the country and returned to Boston University to gain a Masters degree in nursing education. Her friendship had begun with John who moved to the United Kingdom in 1964, to do the DCH and MRCP (Edinburgh). Mary had indicated that New Guinea was no place for a single woman so, when John finished his membership at Edinburgh, he flew to Boston, Massachusetts and Mary accepted his proposal of marriage. They were married on 13 August 1964, in Wollaston, Massachusetts before returning to Papua New Guinea where they were to serve the community until 1990. In 1990, he was appointed Emeritus Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Queensland, a post he held with distinction till his death.

John and Mary were very welcoming hosts in their home and would have medical students, student nurses, consultants, friends and missionaries at their home with 12 to 14 at a meal, often 2 or 3 times a week. With a 'hands on' approach to child health, he rose through the ranks to be Senior Paediatrician and in 1974, was appointed the Foundation Professor of Paediatrics in the newly established Faculty of Medicine, and was the longest serving Foundation Professor in the Faculty. His publications were always full of practical advice on the diagnosis and management of common diseases like malaria and respiratory tract infections, portrayed in a very concise and clear manner.

Of great importance were the sketches and statements in his books like 'breast is best', or more telling, the sketch of a dehydrated baby with flies around the child and bottle with a large cross over it and the caption 'bottles kill babies'. It was John's dogged perseverance and concern for infants, which was responsible in 1977, for the 'Baby Food Supplies Control Act – 1977', forbidding the sale of feeding bottles, teats and dummies, except from a registered pharmacist on the prescription of a health worker. Before writing a script, the health worker had to be satisfied that it was in the baby's best interest, and that the mother knew how to prepare the milk in a safe, hygienic manner, and if it was not consumed, to be able to refrigerate or discard the unused milk. His studies in 1975, in several villages had demonstrated that 65% of babies were breast-fed, but a repeat study in 1979, found 88% breast-fed and of the bottle fed, only one was using illegal bottles. Dummies were included because John recognised that to soothe a crying or distressed baby the mother would offer a breast, which offered food to the child and stimulated the breast to produce more milk. This law and the subsequent amendments in 1984, required to prevent people trying to circumvent the initial law, has saved a thousand Papua New Guineans from disease and death from gastroenteritis. The World Health Organization (WHO) Assembly of 1981, recognised the problem of artificial milk products and developed the 'International Code of Marketing Breast Milk Substitutes'.

In 1983, he was awarded the Officer of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his efforts in Papua New Guinea, and other third world countries to which he was a frequent visitor and lecturer. In 1992, his colleagues in the Australian College of Paediatrics presented him with its highest award, the Howard Williams Medal. John and Mary were proud of their achievements and it is appropriate that the paediatric ward in the Port Moresby Hospital is named 'The John Biddulph Children’s Ward'. During the opening ceremony of the Ninth Asian Congress of Pediatrics held in Hong Kong 1997, he was awarded the Plaque of Honour as 'Outstanding Paediatrician for Asia'.

A humble man and consummate gentleman, his clinical opinion was sought by many, and his wise and practical advice by all who knew him. He was a frequent visitor to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and WHO consultant to most South East Asian and Pacific nations. Typical of John, he was invited to South America on one occasion, but his commitments to his students in Papua New Guinea at that time prevented him from accepting the invitation. He was President of the Papua New Guinea Medical Association from 1979 to 1980, and Secretary from 1974 to 1990. Besides over 70 publications of his own, he was editor of the Papua New Guinea Medical Journal from 1965 to 1990. In 1967, he produced the first edition of Child health for medical assistants and in 1969, Child Health for Health Extension Officers and nurses in Papua New Guinea, which ran to six editions. 1974, saw the publication of his Notes on Paediatrics for medical officers. In 1983, with Frank Shann, he published Paediatrics for doctors in Papua New Guinea.

No tribute to John would be complete without a tribute to his wife Mary, who supported him through any ups and downs in Papua New Guinea, and was his constant companion through his illness with chronic lymphatic leukemia, which he endured for over three years. John supported Mary in her role as Head of Nursing in Papua New Guinea. She wrote teaching manuals which enabled Grade 6 students to be taught about health and hygiene, and which they then taught to Grade 1 pupils, and by osmosis, much filtered down to the parents.

John and Mary had two children, Fran and Michael. Fran has continued the caring ethos of her parents as a social worker. John was a loving grandfather to Sasarino, Dylan and Brittany. At the celebration of his life on Friday 9 January 1998, many had journeyed from Papua New Guinea to say their last farewells. In addition to the hymns that were sung, the Pari Paravetta group sang a Paravetta Motuan song and the Nurses’ Christian Fellowship group also sang. Tributes included a eulogy from Dr Peter Pangatana, who had been his friend since John walked into a tutorial room of the Papua Medical College dressed in his gray shorts, white short sleeve shirt and long socks. It was the simple attire of John, who was a great teacher, mentor, colleague and friend to so many in Papua New Guinea for over 30 years. He was a committed practicing Christian, whose life was dedicated to helping others, and the citation on the plaque from the Asian Congress of Paediatrics in March 1997, reads 'For his outstanding contributions to pediatric education, practice and research especially in Papua New Guinea, for serving as Chief Adviser to the Minister of Health on matters relating to child health, for pioneering in the training of paediatricians and paediatric nurses, for establishing standard treatment protocols in child health and for strengthening primary health care programs throughout the country, which has led to the betterment of child health'.

Rest in peace with your Lord.