Reginald Watson-Jones was born in Sussex and brought up in Liverpool, where he studied medicine. He became a key figure in military surgery during the Second World War.

Watson-Jones was an orthopaedic surgeon who specialised in fractures. He was appointed Civilian Consultant in Orthopaedic Surgery to the Royal Air Force early in the Second World War. Though he did not enter the military, he persuaded a younger surgeon, H Osmond-Clarke, to enter the services so Watson-Jones could find out about what was going on. Watson-Jones had direct access to the Minister for Air, which made his job much easier.

He established an orthopaedic rehabilitation service for the RAF, and designed programmes where rehabilitation would start as soon as possible - within a few days of surgery and overseen by a group of doctors, nurses and physiotherapists. Once they were recovered from surgery, RAF personnel were sent to specialist centres to undertake rehabilitation by exercise and sport, including football (one of them is now Loughborough University). The system established by Watson-Jones returned 77% of personnel to full combat duty and only 4.8% were invalided or discharged out of the services. As a result of his service to the RAF he received a knighthood in 1945. He was instrumental in organising the purchase of Headley Court in Surrey, which was used as a rehabilitation centre for wounded British military personnel until 2018.