Pengelly, Andrew William (1942 - 2021)
by
 
Peter Malone

Asset Name
E009998 - Pengelly, Andrew William (1942 - 2021)

Title
Pengelly, Andrew William (1942 - 2021)

Author
Peter Malone

Identifier
RCS: E009998

Publisher
The Royal College of Surgeons of England

Publication Date
2021-08-13
 
2021-11-19

Subject
Medical Obituaries

Description
Obituary for Pengelly, Andrew William (1942 - 2021), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Language
English

Source
IsPartOf Plarr's Lives of the Fellows

Date of Birth
25 April 1942

Place of Birth
Winchester

Date of Death
25 March 2021

Occupation
Urologist

Titles/Qualifications
BA Oxford 1965
 
BM BCh 1969
 
FRCS 1974
 
BA Winchester

Details
Andrew Pengelly was a consultant urologist and medical director of the Royal Berkshire and Battle hospitals, Reading. He was born in Winchester on 25 April 1942, the son of Kenneth Pengelly, a headmaster, and Christine Winifred Pengelly née Lyon, a musician. He was educated at King’s School in Canterbury and went on to Keble College, Oxford, where he excelled at rowing, and Middlesex Hospital Medical School. Andrew held house posts at Middlesex Hospital and at Addenbrooke’s, Cambridge, and was then a medical officer in Peshawar, Pakistan from 1971 to 1972. He was a casualty officer in Birmingham and a senior house officer at Gloucester Royal Hospital. In 1973 he was a research registrar at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol. From 1976 he was a senior registrar in urology under Richard Turner-Warwick at the Middlesex Hospital and Ken Own at St Mary’s Hospital. In 1980 Andrew was appointed as a consultant urologist to the Royal Berkshire and Battle hospitals. When he became a consultant, it was a time of change as, until then, urology was considered a sub-specialty of general surgery. He was the first ‘pure’ urologist in Reading and to forge a department out of nothing takes a certain type of character. Andrew had the surgical, administrative and people skills to make it succeed. He was a generous man. Generous financially, especially to the nursing staff. The frequent (and free to all but consultants) urology parties he started encompassed all members of the team, including the cleaners when they were still attached to the ward. Generous of time; particularly when there was a patient problem, when he was always there to tell you what to do or frequently what not do. His advice was always sound, considered and invariably correct (the only time I remember him being wrong was when he told me his house was childproof, shortly before my daughter drunk his wife’s contact lenses). Generous of spirit; he was always smiling and cheery and when you wanted to change an on call day the answer was always yes. He took the regular Friday afternoon operating list when everyone else saw the opportunity of the occasional long weekend. He was a supremely competent surgeon. We all have complications, but Andrew’s patients seemed to come and go in large numbers without problems. He was a superb teacher and it is no coincidence that so many surgical trainees in Reading took up urology and so many specialist registrars branched off into female urology, which was his forte. He designed the Pengelly catheter for use after transurethral surgery, which has never been bettered in my opinion. He was a legendary communicator and his letters nearly always made you smile whilst clearly conveying the message and plan. He was committed to the NHS. Although his enviable reputation attracted a large private practice, with many household names among his patients, I cannot ever remember him neglecting his NHS commitments, whereas it was not uncommon for him to sacrifice private income for NHS necessity. This commitment, together with his status among peers, his administrative prowess and his communication skills led to his appointment as the first medical director after the Royal Berkshire Hospital achieved trust status. He was a safe pair of hands at a time of change. Away from work, he had a very wide circle of friends, mostly non-medical, and frequently artistic, (both musical and visual) and he himself was an accomplished artist, as was his father. The walls of his house were adorned by works of art, including some by famous artists (I suspect they were gifts from grateful patients) and after retirement he completed a fine art degree at Winchester School of Art. The punch at his annual Christmas Eve parties frequently caught out the unwary. Andrew was married four times. His first wife was Elizabeth Evans. In 1976 he married Geraldine (Gerry) Pumphery, with whom he had four lovely children – Oliver, Victoria, Laurence and Rachel. Their parting was amicable after his retirement and, in 2005, he married Rachael Cook shortly before she died of lung cancer. He married Ellie just before his own death. Andrew died on 25 April 2021 at the age of 79. A very good surgeon, friend and colleague, and a rounded individual with many interests outside of medicine – he’ll be missed.

Sources
The British Association of Urological Surgeons Virtual Museum Memorial Garden Andrew Pengelly 1942-2021 www.baus.org.uk/museum/1436/andrew_pengelly – accessed 16 November 2021

Rights
Copyright (c) The Royal College of Surgeons of England
 
Image Copyright (c) Image provided for use with kind permission of the family

Collection
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows

Format
Obituary

Format
Asset

Asset Path
Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009900-E009999

URL for File
384989

Media Type
JPEG Image

File Size
322.26 KB