Henry Pickerill

Pickerill made major contributions to several fields of dentistry and plastic surgery both in New Zealand and overseas.

Following a two-year apprenticeship in dentistry he was awarded a LDSRCS (licentiate in dental surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England) in 1903.

[1] In 1906 after seeing an advertisement he applied for and was appointed at the age of 28 to the position of Dean of the Dental School at the University of Otago.

[4] Initially the first students were those who had already served apprenticeships with established dentists and had enrolled at the school to complete their final qualifications.

However the school finances were plagued by a shortage of students and thus income, which was not resolved until a campaign led by acting Dean O.V.

Davies led to bursaries covering fees and living costs for dental students that was established in 1917.

As both teacher and Dean he introduced high standards of training during the long and bitter argument among the New Zealand medical fraternity over whether dentists should pass through an apprenticeship system or be university-trained.

[1] Pickerill also did a great deal of research and was a prolific author, notable among them being his essay The Prevention of Dental Caries and Oral Sepsis, for which he received the Cartwright Prize of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1911 (subsequently published in book form in 1912) and Stomatology in General Practice: A Textbook of Diseases of the Teeth and Mouth (1912).

[1] Pickerill believed that child-care practices and hygiene standards in New Zealand were inadequate and encouraged dentists to support the recently formed Plunket Society, which aimed to improve child health.

The object was to confirm studies undertaken in other countries that the natural diet of native populations made them seemingly immune to dental caries.

Champtaloup was unable to leave his laboratory for the first trip in 1912 so accommodated by an interpreter, Pickerill observed in his words, "more perfect sets of teeth than I had ever seen before".

[6] In 1916 Pickerill took leave from his position at the University of Otago to serve overseas with the NZDC, departing New Zealand on 30 December 1916[7] with the 20th Reinforcements NZEF on the troopship Athenic.

[8] Concerned that too many soldiers were returning to New Zealand with dental and jaw injuries that could have been improved by earlier treatment, General George Richardson of the N.Z.E.F.

[6] Pickerill was soon operating as a maxillofacial surgeon, gaining a reputation in the fields of facial reconstruction and plastic surgery as he pioneered the use of bone, skin and fat grafting, and jaw wiring.

[10] On 9 January 1918, Pickerill, by now with the rank of major, his dental mechanic and 29 patients were transferred under duress to the newly opened Queen's Hospital at Sidcup.

[2] Two days after arriving, Pickerill suggested that he return to New Zealand, where he felt that while resuming his duties as Dean he would still have time to undertake further corrective work once the patients' initial treatment had stabilized during the voyage home.

[6] Following the end of the war Pickerill, his unit, and the remaining 59 patients departed in March 1919 on the SS Tainui.

After their arrival back in New Zealand in May 1919 they established themselves as the Facial and Jaw Department within the military section at Dunedin Hospital.

While surgeries were undertaken in the hospital of the Red Cross Society in June 1919 rented for three years Woodside, the substantial home which was owned by Richard Brinsley the proprietor of a local iron-foundry firm at 4 Lovelock Avenue in North Dunedin.

[12] Known as the Woodside Jaw Hospital, it was used to house the patients Pickerill had bought back from the United Kingdom, conduct some treatments, and as act a convalescent centre.

[14] As the existing building was proving to be too small, Pickerill had to overcome a proposal by Auckland interests establish a rival dental school in that city.

Using his wartime experience Pickerill developed what is known as the triangular or zig-zag graft to remove hare lips, principally on babies.

His former house surgeon in Dunedin Hospital Cecily Mary Wise Clarkson joined him to assist and learn plastic surgery and then following his divorce, his wife.

A short time after their wedding the Pickerill’s returned to New Zealand in 1935 and settled in Wellington where they established a private practice which by 1941 was based in Kelvin Chambers on The Terrace.

The couple established Bassam in Lower Hutt in 1939 as a hostel providing live-in accommodation for children and their parents who were receiving surgery at Lewisham Hospital.

By 1942 the eight-room Bassam had become a full private hospital specializing in treating children with cleft palates and other major congenital conditions needing plastic surgery.

To prevent post-surgical and cross infection Bassam was the first hospital in New Zealand where all nursing, except during surgery and the changing of dressings, was done by the mothers of the young patients.

These short-term visits while not offering a full service, continued until 1950 when the hospital gained a resident plastic surgeon.

His ashes were taken to England by his wife and daughter and scattered from a bridge over the River Wye at Holme Lacy near Hereford.

[1] After divorcing Mabel Pickerill, he married Cecily Mary Wise Clarkson who was 27 years his junior, at Sydney on 17 December 1934.