[1][2] In his working life, he was a civil servant whose main work was concerned with the rationalisation and reorganisation of the UK coal industry to the point where the industry could be nationalised after the Second World War.
He also appeared in matches for the Gentlemen of England, MCC, Free Foresters and other amateur teams.
[1] His main period of significant cricketing success came in 1922, when in five games for Kent, the most he played in any single season, he scored the only three centuries of his career, the highest being an innings of 124 in two hours with 14 fours, made against Lancashire.
[1] Hurst was called to the Bar in 1910 but then entered the UK civil service, serving in the Public Trustee Office from 1911, before transferring to the Ministry of Munitions during the First World War.
[3][6] At the end of the war, he moved to the Ministry of Labour and it was as a labour relations expert that he was drawn into the controversies of the UK coal-mining industry, serving as the secretary of the Royal Commission that attempted to bring warring owners and unions together in the period leading up to the General Strike of 1926, and then to the Coal Mines Reorganization Commission which was charged by the UK government with creating larger units within a highly fragmented industry but proved ineffective.