MA Oxford 1875; MRCS LSA 1878; DPH Vict 1897.
Garstang was born in Dobcross, Saddleworth, on 18 July 1850, the son of a general practitioner (probably Walter Garstang of Dobcross, qualified 1847). Garstang studied medicine in Manchester and at St Bartholomew's Hospital. Garstang was medical officer of health for the Middlewich, Biddulph, Knutsford and Winsford Urban District Councils and the Northwich and Bucklow Rural District Councils. Garstang was an important member of the BMA, serving on a number of committees and holding a number of offices, including vice-president in 1926. Garstang resigned his appointments at the age of seventy, and died in May 1935.