Sir Eric William Riches, (29 July 1897 – 8 November 1987)[1] was a British surgeon, urologist, and decorated British Army officer. In 1955, he developed a new cystoscope, which was named after him as the Riches Cystoscope, in order to standardise the equipment and its attachments.[2] He gave the Hunterian Oration at the Royal College of Surgeons in 1938 and 1942, and the Bradshaw Lecture in 1962.[3]
Eric Riches was born on 29 July 1897 in Alford, Lincolnshire, England.[4]
In 1915, having deferred his entry to university, Riches joined the British Army to fight in the First World War. On 4 January 1916, he was commissioned into the Lincolnshire Regiment as a temporary second lieutenant. He then served with the 10th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment.
In the 1958 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Knight Bachelor in recognition of his service as "surgeon and urologist to Middlesex Hospital". On 15 July 1958, he was knighted by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
In 1964 he was awarded the BAUS's St Peter's Medal.[5]