Pioneering Otago surgeon remembered

Pioneering maxillofacial surgeon Henry Percy Pickerill, first dean of the University of Otago Dental School, is remembered in one of 44 tapestry panels which will go on public view in Dunedin tomorrow.

English-born dentistry and medical graduate Associate Prof Pickerill was appointed Otago University's first dean of dentistry in 1907.

In 1917, during World War 1, he was appointed to establish a jaw department at the Second New Zealand General Hospital at Walton-on-Thames near London, England, where he treated New Zealand soldiers returning from the fronts in Belgium and France.

This hospital was also known as the Mount Felix Hospital.

He earned a reputation for first-class plastic and maxillofacial surgery, and pioneered new techniques of tissue transfer and hygiene.

Prof Pickerill, who resumed his work as Otago dean after the war, is commemorated for his work as a pioneer in facial reconstruction in one of 44 panels in the Mount Felix Tapestry, which has been touring New Zealand since last year.

This tapestry is a community stitch project created by over 600 people in both England and New Zealand between 2015-17.

It commemorates the 27,000 Kiwi soldiers who were treated at the English hospital from 1915 onwards, and the doctors and nurses who cared for them.

The work was designed by Andrew Crummy, and embroiderers throughout New Zealand, including in Dunedin, are adding new stitches for a 45th panel for the tapestry, New Zealand tapestry tour liaison officer Rosemary Burnby said.

The display runs until April 27 at Toitu Otago Settlers Museum.