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Dame Cecily Pickerill
Biography
BiographyInformation taken from Upper Hutt Heroes 14 May - 10 July 2016:
'Plastic Surgeon pioneer Dame Cecily Pickerill passed away in 1988. she was one of the first 50 medical women to graduate from Otago University and was institutional in the development and practice of plastic surgery in New Zealand, especially in the care of children with cleft lip and palate problems.
Pickerill was born in Taihape, educated at Taihape School and at the Diocesan High School for Girls in Auckland and then attended medical studies at the University of Otago, graduating in 1925. At Dunedin Public Hospital she worked as House-Surgeon to Professor Henry Percy Pickerill. She later became his Assistant and business partner and they eventually married in Sydney in 1934. A short time later they returned to New Zealand, set up their home in Upper Hutt, and after working at Lewisham Home of Compassion, Middlemore Hospital and Wellington hospital, established Lower Hutt's Bassam Hospital in 1939.
By 1942 Bassam became a full live-in hospital for mothers and their babies who had been born with cleft lips, palate problems and other congenital defects. Cecily Pickerill slowly took over most of the surgery but, because people at the time were not quite accepted of a woman Surgeon, it was not until later that patients' parents were told that she had performed the operation. Women were not accepted into the Fellow at the Royal College of Surgeons until 1947 though several women did work as Surgeons before this. A feature of the treatment method was the involvement of the mothers in the care of their children. Bassam was the first Hospital in New Zealand to offer live-in accommodation for the mothers of babies, an important development in the prevention of infection and in ensuring a less stressful atmosphere, with mothers being able to enjoy each other's company outside in the fresh air. "you look after your baby. We look after you" was a favourite saying. Over 300 children were repaired every year, with the Pickerills providing their service free of charge thanks to Rotary and Crippled Children's Society funding.
Henry Pickerill died in 1956 and Cecily Pickerill continued her work at Bassam Hospital until her retirement in 1967. She was made an OBE in 1958 and a DBE in 1977 and honoured by a number of organisations including the New Zealand Crippled Children's Society, of which she was honorary Vice President and a Life Member of many of its branches. She was Patron of the Upper Hutt branch of the New Zealand Red Cross Society, and was involved with the Laura Fergusson Trust for Disabled Persons and St Mary's Anglican Church, Silverstream.'
'Plastic Surgeon pioneer Dame Cecily Pickerill passed away in 1988. she was one of the first 50 medical women to graduate from Otago University and was institutional in the development and practice of plastic surgery in New Zealand, especially in the care of children with cleft lip and palate problems.
Pickerill was born in Taihape, educated at Taihape School and at the Diocesan High School for Girls in Auckland and then attended medical studies at the University of Otago, graduating in 1925. At Dunedin Public Hospital she worked as House-Surgeon to Professor Henry Percy Pickerill. She later became his Assistant and business partner and they eventually married in Sydney in 1934. A short time later they returned to New Zealand, set up their home in Upper Hutt, and after working at Lewisham Home of Compassion, Middlemore Hospital and Wellington hospital, established Lower Hutt's Bassam Hospital in 1939.
By 1942 Bassam became a full live-in hospital for mothers and their babies who had been born with cleft lips, palate problems and other congenital defects. Cecily Pickerill slowly took over most of the surgery but, because people at the time were not quite accepted of a woman Surgeon, it was not until later that patients' parents were told that she had performed the operation. Women were not accepted into the Fellow at the Royal College of Surgeons until 1947 though several women did work as Surgeons before this. A feature of the treatment method was the involvement of the mothers in the care of their children. Bassam was the first Hospital in New Zealand to offer live-in accommodation for the mothers of babies, an important development in the prevention of infection and in ensuring a less stressful atmosphere, with mothers being able to enjoy each other's company outside in the fresh air. "you look after your baby. We look after you" was a favourite saying. Over 300 children were repaired every year, with the Pickerills providing their service free of charge thanks to Rotary and Crippled Children's Society funding.
Henry Pickerill died in 1956 and Cecily Pickerill continued her work at Bassam Hospital until her retirement in 1967. She was made an OBE in 1958 and a DBE in 1977 and honoured by a number of organisations including the New Zealand Crippled Children's Society, of which she was honorary Vice President and a Life Member of many of its branches. She was Patron of the Upper Hutt branch of the New Zealand Red Cross Society, and was involved with the Laura Fergusson Trust for Disabled Persons and St Mary's Anglican Church, Silverstream.'
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Details
Also Known AsCecily Pickerill, Aunty CecilyDate of Birth9th February 1903Place of BirthTaihapeDate of Death21st July 1988Place of DeathLower Hutt HospitalSexFemale
Date of Birth9th February 1903Place of BirthTaihapeDate of Death21st July 1988Place of DeathLower Hutt HospitalSexFemaleMarriage
HusbandHenry Pickerill
Dame Cecily Pickerill. Upper Hutt City Library, accessed 04/04/2026, https://uhcl.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/30910