William Ursell was born in Bognor Regis, Sussex on 8 November 1935. He was the second son of Gerald Seward Ursell, a master baker and catering managing director, and his wife Lily Beatrice née Wren, whose father served in the Royal Navy. Educated at Westloats Lane Primary School in Bognor Regis, Chichester High School and Peter Symonds School in Winchester, he studied medicine at London University and trained at St George’s Hospital (SGH), passing his MB, BS in 1960. He did house jobs at St Georges, the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street (GOSH), the Samaritan Hospital and Queen Charlotte’s Maternity Hospital before becoming senior registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology at King’s College Hospital (KCH), all in London. During this time he acknowledged the help and inspiration provided by four senior practitioners in his field, Sir David Innes Williams (GOSH), Sir Stanley Clayton (KCH), Calvert Merton Gwillim (SGH) and Sir Rustam Moolan Feroze (KCH). He passed the fellowship of the college in 1967 and the fellowship of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists fifteen years later. Appointed consultant obstetric and gynaecological surgeon at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent, he also worked at the Buckland Hospital in Dover, the Royal Victoria Hospital in Folkestone, the Kent and Canterbury Hospital and the Victoria Hospital in Deal. He was an examiner for the Central Midwives Board and a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. In 1965 he married Ms Peddle and they had three sons. A keen sportsman, he had represented English schools in cricket and played golf as a member of the Medical Golf Society. He died on 16 September 2016, aged 80.