Cuthbert Lockyer was born at Evercreech, Somerset on 13 April 1867 into a family with a long background in farming. He was educated at King's School, Bruton  and the University of London and received his clinical training at Charing Cross Hospital. He became an eminent surgeon specialising in obstetrics and gynaecology particularly at Charing Cross Hospital but he was also a consultant at many other hospital. He wrote extensively on his specialism and also drew some of the illustrations for his books. He married Minnie Marie Coombs in 1899 by whom he had two sons and a daughter. She died in 1924 and he married for a second time in 1927, this time to Violet Gwendoline Morton. He enjoyed playing golf and coarse fishing and was a keen artist, exhibiting his oil paintings at R S M. After a distinguished career as an Physician, Surgeon and Gynaecologist he retired to Penzance with his second wife and there set up a studio over the garage of his house where they could both paint and etch together. They regularly exhibited at local art exhibitions and he was a NAG Exhibitor in 1937 along with his wife. He died on 28 August 1957 after a lengthy illness during which he increasingly had to depend on his wife.