Tom Hurrell had his own general surgery practise and was a part time general surgeon at Christchurch Hospital, New Zealand. He was born in Eltham, New Zealand on 23 December 1919, the son of Thomas Hurrell, a coachbuilder from Yorkshire and May Patter, daughter of a goldminer. Their only son, he had five sisters. He was educated at Hawera High School and Otago University. He was house physician and house surgeon in Christchurch before coming to England to study for the FRCS, after which he was registrar at Oldchurch Hospital, Romford, where he was greatly helped by E B Whittingham. In 1949, he married Dr Sheila Wilding, who later had her own general practise in Christchurch, and they had three children. He died in Christchurch on 17 March 1997. Update: See below for an updated and expanded version of the published obituary uploaded 19 May 2025 Tom Hurrell was a general surgeon at Christchurch Hospital, New Zealand. He was born in Eltham, New Zealand on 23 December 1919, the son of Thomas Hurrell, a coach builder from Yorkshire, and Annie May Hurrell née Patten, the daughter of a goldminer. He was their only son: he had five sisters – Ruth, Joan, Mollie, Irene and Betty. At the age of three he contracted polio and remained lame in his right leg. He was educated at Hawera High School and then initially trained in civil engineering and had early posts working as a draughtsman for the Ministry of Works in the Auckland area, until he found that his disability interfered with field work. He then attended medical school at Dunedin and qualified in 1947. He was a house physician and house surgeon in Christchurch and worked for a while in the Chatham Islands, before going to England for further surgical training. He was a registrar at Oldchurch Hospital, Romford, where he was greatly helped by Edward Beck Whittingham. In 1951 he gained his fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and, in 1952, of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He later also became a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. In 1953 he returned to New Zealand, where he was a senior surgical registrar, and then obtained a post as a part-time surgeon, initially in the plastic surgery unit at Burwood in 1955, moving to Christchurch Hospital in 1958. Then, in 1959, he began his 25-year association with the Princess Margaret Hospital, also in Christchurch, where he developed a reputation as surgeon with a wonderful bedside manner and with excellent surgical skills. When Christchurch clinical school was opened, he began teaching medical students, something he enjoyed immensely. In 1984 he retired from public hospital practice but continued to work in a limited capacity in private practice for a few more years. In his retirement he enjoyed gardening, cooking, listening to music, painting in oils and watercolours, and listening to shortwave radio. In 1949 he married Sheila Wilding in London. She later had her own general practice in Christchurch. They had three children. Predeceased by his wife, who died in 1973, Hurrell died in Christchurch on 17 March 1997 aged 77.