[2][3] Purssell graduated from Oriel College, Oxford, with a Bachelor of Arts honours degree in chemistry in 1948.
[2][3] While at Oxford, he gained three blues for rowing, representing the university in the boat race between 1946 and 1948.
He rowed for Great Britain in the 1948 Summer Olympics in the coxed four and they were eliminated in the quarter-final.
[5] In 1968, Purssell became the firm's Managing Director and in 1973 took the same position at Arthur Guinness Son & Co. (Dublin) Ltd.[3] He held that post until 1975,[2] when he took up the equivalent position at Arthur Guinness & Sons Plc between 1975 and 1981.
[3] Purssell was a member of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (1976–81), the Civil Aviation Authority (1984–90),[1] and the Thames Valley and South Midlands Regional Board; he was also a Regional Director (1982–91) and Chairman (1989–91) of Lloyds Bank Plc.