Eily “Elaine” Gurr

Class of 1922

This biography is based on secondary material. It has been collated by Rennae Taylor and was reviewed by the first Elaine Gurr Chair of General Practice at Otago Medical School, Professor John Campbell Murdoch. The above picture was one taken by him in 1982. We are grateful for the use of the 1905 pictures of Woodford House provided by the current archivist Mary Sherratt.

Family and Early Background

Eily Elaine Gurr was born on 8 November 1896 in Thorndon, Wellington, the only child of Eily Maude (nee Ringwood) and Norman Leslie Gurr. Her very early childhood was spent in the suburbs of Roseneath and Oriental Bay. (1, 2) For the purpose of this biography, she will be referred to as Elaine.

Elaine’s mother was born in India, and her father was employed by the India Civil Service prior to their emigration to New Zealand when she was ten. She was educated at a private school in Onehunga and married Norman in 1895.  She was always very interested in sports and was one of the first to establish physical culture classes and a gymnasium for girls in Wellington.  She held a championship gold medal in gymnastics and enjoyed tennis, golf, and swimming during her adult life. At the time of her death in 1931, at the age of fifty-eight, she had just become a justice of the peace. (3, 4)

Elaine’s father was born in Tasmania and was educated in Adelaide before moving to New Zealand at the age of seventeen. He was a well-known competitive runner in New Zealand and enjoyed golf, cricket, cycling, football, tennis, and rowing. He was successful as a superintendent and then manager with the Mutual Life Association of Australasia in Wellington and Dannevirke. He remarried in 1937, and he and his second wife lived in Kaitaia until his death in 1948 at the age of eighty-two. (5)

By 1905, the Gurr family was living in Dannevirke, and Elaine commenced her education at Woodford House in Havelock North as a boarder. The Woodford House archivist has been unable to confirm any further years she was a student at the school.

While living in the Hawke’s Bay area, Elaine developed a concern about the many accidents that occurred in the sawmills in the vicinity. This, along with the need for better medical services, may have played a role in her desire to become a medical doctor. (6)

At some point, the family moved back to Wellington, where she attended Wellington Girls College. (2) Like her parents, she had a talent for sports, including tennis, (7) hockey, (8) and athletics (long jump and walking). (9)

Elaine completed her matriculation at the NZ University examination held in December 1915. (10)

Medical School and House Surgeon Years

Elaine’s parents supported her in her decision to become a doctor and gave her financial assistance. (6) She commenced her studies at the University of Otago in 1916 and, by October 1917, had successfully passed all subjects for her medical intermediate, (11) successfully gaining entrance into the medical programme. She lived at St Margaret’s College, and her room was next door to Rosina Dorothy Richards nee Crawley, class of 1921, who became a lifelong friend and whose son, Associate Professor John Richards, later wrote her history. (6, 12) Remembrances she shared with Rosina’s son John in 1987 included details about the physics practicals where the door would be locked by the lecturer, Dr. Robert Jack, after the marginally late Elaine would arrive. She also had good memories of Sir Lindo Ferguson, the dean, who used to invite students to his home for dinner and evening parties. (12)

A newspaper from 1919 reports that Elaine became engaged to Stanton Hicks a fellow medical student in 1919 but they planned on completing their medical studies before their marriage. (13)

Their marriage, however, never occurred. Stanton graduated in 1923 and forged a career in Australia in the fields of human physiology and pharmacology and was knighted in 1936. (14)

Elaine spent her final year at medical school as a public health bursar. The scheme accepted eight bursars annually to live in at Dunedin Hospital (the only NZ hospital at the time with any accommodation for women), where they gained valuable experience by assisting the house surgeons; 1921 was the final year of the scheme. Her classmate Muriel Bell was the only other female bursar that year. Elaine remembered the experience as ‘arduous days’ and commented that ‘house surgeons made them work very hard’. Bursars, like other students, had to attend lectures and complete practical work in addition to their hospital duties. There was no laboratory assistance for diagnostic testing: house surgeons and bursars did their own blood counts and urine tests on patients. They were on duty every night and at weekends for calls to the wards, operating theatre and casualty department and were responsible for their supervisors’ patients. They also had to respond to district emergency calls, which were often in the poorer areas of Dunedin. (15) One of the other bursars that year was Charles (later Sir Charles) Burns. He and Elaine had an enduring friendship, which started when they sat at the table beside each other. (12)

Along with ten other women in the class of 1922, Elaine graduated with her MB ChB, and was appointed as a house surgeon at Timaru Hospital until going overseas in 1923.

Overseas Work and Training

In July 1923, Elaine and her mother left NZ on the ship Remuera for the United Kingdom, where she planned to gain post-graduate training in the ailments of women and children. (16) She returned in September 1924. (17) While there, she gained experience at several different hospitals, including postgraduate work at the Coombe and Rotunda hospitals in Dublin, qualifying as a licentiate in midwifery. She spent time becoming acquainted with the new field of antenatal care at the Royal Free Hospital and Chelsea Hospital, London. (2) She also spent time in Edinburgh and Glasgow, where she did antenatal and gynaecology work.

While in the UK, she connected with some of her female medical classmates, including her good friends Rosina Crawley, Grace Stevenson, and Edith Mayo. She returned to NZ in Sept 1924. (17)

Early Career in New Zealand

During the mid-1920s, Elaine set up antenatal clinics in maternity hospitals across the country. (18) Elaine was asked to meet with the Minister of Health, Māui Pōmare, and the Director General of Health, Dr Valentine (a relative of Elaine’s), to discuss their concern about the high mortality rate in obstetrics and whether her recent overseas training in this area could be useful. In particular, they believed it would be beneficial to set up antenatal clinics in the St Helens Maternity Hospitals. There are differing accounts of exactly when Elaine began this process, but Dr Rex Wright-St Clair, author of History of Medical Practitioners in New Zealand 1840-1930, suggests she began in 1925. She was appointed by the Ministry and, for the next two years, with the enlisted help of a nursing sister, Winifred Wise, travelled throughout NZ setting up clinics in St Helens Maternity Hospitals and other maternity hospitals. Over 20 public health antenatal clinics were set up during this appointment. (2) This involved instructing the nursing and midwifery staff in up-to-date antenatal practice, which resulted in a very quick improvement in maternal mortality rates. (2, 6) Elaine was an exponent of the latest eugenics ideas and believed mothers had a responsibility to rear children who were physically and mentally sound. (2)

In 1929, Elaine transferred to the Division of School of Hygiene and spent 18 months in the country practice of Matakaoa County on the East Cape with the hospital situated at Te Araroa. One wonders what is behind the following cryptic message in a personal column in the Gisborne Times, which suggests that there were some disputes over the appointing of a woman in the role of medical superintendent.

Elaine was responsible for surgical, medical, and maternity care.  She built up a good working relationship with the local Plunket Society nurses and was very involved in the needs of the women and children of the district. The roads were very poor, and her childhood ability to ride a horse became very useful. She performed operations on the floor of a shearing shed and stayed overnight in pā on the East Cape, where she helped Māori suffering from the common conditions of asthma and tuberculosis. (2)

Auckland Career

Elaine felt quite isolated from the professional developments of medicine in her East Cape country practice, so in 1932, she moved to Auckland.

On the encouragement of her good friend Rosina and her husband, she purchased a property at 84 Symonds Street, Auckland and set up in general practice. This area was popular with many of the doctors during that era.  Although it was not easy for a single woman to set up in general practice, she earned the respect of her colleagues and practised there for forty years. (6)

She had a very busy practice and was very sought after by women and their children. She continued her close relationship with the Plunket Society, whose rooms were nearby. The World War II years were very busy for her, and she found travelling to night call-outs during the months of blackout quite frightening. She also worked as an anaesthetist for Auckland surgeons. (2)

Following the war, she travelled to England, Denmark and Sweden in 1946 and did postgraduate work in the new speciality of endocrinology. (2) She was able to get a return voyage later that year as a ship doctor. One of her more memorable tasks was the successful removal of the appendix of a member of the crew.  (19)

On her return, Elaine continued with her general practice at Symonds Street. In the Te Ara biography, Mein Smith writes:

General practice was Gurr’s life. She believed that home and family were the foundations of New Zealand and that the general practitioner had a crucial role to play as family guardian. Home visits allowed the doctor to meet both husband and wife, and to encourage preventive measures such as children being vaccinated. An advocate of holistic medicine, she abhorred specialisation for its tendency to lead to the loss of such contact.

In 1983, Elaine was conferred an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal NZ College of General Practitioners. (12)

Community Interests

Elaine was generous with her time and often gave public lectures to various community groups, such as the League of Mothers, Auckland Women’s Luncheon Club, Plunket Society, and NZ Diabetic Welfare Association, to name a few.

She was involved for many years with the St John Ambulance Association as a lecturer and examiner in first aid and home nursing. She also donated life-saving gear to them. She was made a life member in 1952 and an officer in 1954. (2)

She loved animals and was a life member of the Auckland Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. During the 1980s, through her trustees, she provided the salary for a veterinarian for a new animal hospital in Auckland. (2)

She also helped with the establishment of a geriatric home run by the Salvation Army on Auckland’s North Shore. She became involved in the hospice movement and was an advocate for a wider range of live-in hospice facilities. (6)

Chairs

Elaine lived modestly and never married. One of her interests outside of work was the stock exchange. She was a successful investor for many years and always worked with the same stockbroker. (12) In later years, this allowed her to be very generous in her life’s work of general practice.

In 1982, the first chair of general practice was established at the University of Otago and was known as the Elaine Gurr Chair of General Practice. (20)

The first chair was Professor John Campbell Murdoch, who visited her in 1982 before taking on this new role. He recollects:

When I came for the interview in 1982, I stayed with my cousin on the North Shore who told me that Dr Gurr lived near her. I phoned her up and she invited me for afternoon tea. So I have a photo from that visit.  She was a real character! When I met her that day, she interrogated me on my views on various aspects of general practice. She seemed to approve of the answers I gave. A few days later the Vice Chancellor of Otago was explaining to me who Dr Gurr was and that he had not met her face to face. When I told him I had tea with her, he said “Was that wise?” Of course, she had made the original offer to Auckland but they stipulated there would not be a separate Department of General Practice and so she went off to Otago.

Associate Professor John Richards was related to her in some way. He told me once that she didn’t like being photographed.

She is also cited 5 times in Index Medicus unnecessarily, as they obviously thought she was a co-author and not a donor!

In 1988, a chair in general practice was established at the University of Auckland, which enabled a full-time Professor of General Practice to be appointed. It was called the Elaine Gurr Professor of General Practice. (21) In his memoir, the first chair, Prof Brian R. McAvoy, recalls this embarrassing recollection at his inaugural lecture: (22)

The adrenalin is pumping as I approach the podium in the packed Sir Douglas Robb lecture theatre….The front row contains the great and the good of the University, my family and the benefactor of my chair, the 94-year-old Dr Elaine Gurr. She had been one of the first women medical graduates in New Zealand in 1923….She was a formidable figure who was passionate about the importance of general practice and holistic medicine. In her retirement, she channelled her energy into endowing Chairs of general practice in Otago and Auckland Universities. As I launch into my lecture, entitled “To see ourselves as others see us,” inspired by the words of Robert Burns, I am acutely aware of Dr Gurr’s intense gaze and laser-like attention. I follow the cultural protocol of prefacing and completing my presentation with carefully practiced formal Māori greetings. My magnum opus completed, I relax and acknowledge the audience’s applause. As silence descends on the auditorium, Dr Gurr turns to the Dean, emitting a clearly audible whisper: “What a wonderful man – and he speaks Māori too.” I was later reliably informed that my ears took on the hue of Belisha beacons at this point.

John Richards, the son of her good friend Rosina, said that “this unassuming woman was the most generous benefactor NZ general medical practice has ever had”. Few people in NZ have fully endowed one university chair, and even fewer have given two. Some of the named chairs in this country have been accepted on the basis of a ten-year endowment, with the university taking up the funding after that time. For general practice chairs, the two universities have insisted on endowment in perpetuity.  (6)

To date, there have been six holders of the Elaine Gurr Chair of General Practice, three in Dunedin (Campbell Murdoch, Murray Tilyard and at present Tim Stokes) and three in Auckland (Brian McAvoy, Gregor Coster and at present Bruce Arroll).

Retirement

In her retirement years, she lived in her own home at Toroa Point in the suburb of Torbay on the North Shore of Auckland. She encouraged the first Otago chair of GPs to emphasize to his students that being a GP could be wonderful in retirement – throughout hers, she maintained regular contact with many former patients, receiving multiple calls from them per week (6). Dr Elaine Gurr died at her home on 12 December 1996 at the age of 100 years.

Bibliography

1. Births, Deaths & Marriages Online Wellington: Internal Affairs NZ Government; [16.05.2024]. Available from: https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
2. Mein-Smith P. ‘Gurr, Eily Elaine’, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography: Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand; 2000 [29.05.2024]. Available from: https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5g23/gurr-eily-elaine
3. Obituary Mrs Eily M. Gurr. Gisborne Times. 1931 13.05.1931. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GIST19310513.2.26
4. Obituary: Mrs. Norman Gurr. New Zealand Herald. 1931 23.05.1931. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19310523.2.149
5. Mr. Norman L. Gurr. Northern Advocate. 1937 07.05.1937:11. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19370507.2.134
6. Maxwell MD. Women Doctors in New Zealand: An Historical Perspective 1921-1986. Auckland: IMS (N.Z.) Limited; 1990.
7. Tennis: Inter-High School Matches. Manawatu Standard. 1912 18.03.1912. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19120318.2.71
8. Ladies Hockey. New Zealand Times. 1914 01.06.1914. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19140601.2.86
9. Girls’ College Sports. New Zealand Times. 1915 20.11.1915. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19151120.2.57
10. Personal. Manawatu Times. 1916 31.01.1916. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MT19160131.2.12
11. Over the Range. Manawatu Times. 1917 31.10.1917. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MT19171031.2.7
12. Richards J. Dr Elaine Gurr – Honorary Fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. NZ Family Physician. 1987;14(1):3.
13. Personal Paragraphs. Manawatu Times. 1919 14.06.1919. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MT19190614.2.38
14. Sullivan J. Dashing heroes of a harbour crossing. Otago Daily Times. 2008 06.09,2008;Sect. Life & Style. Available from: https://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/dashing-heroes-harbour-crossing
15. D. B. The Unconventional Career of Muriel Bell. Dunedin: Otago University Press; 2018.
16. Personal Items. Wairarapa Daily Times. 1923 25.07.1923. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WDT19230725.2.13
17. Personal Items. Wairarapa Daily Times. 1924 02.09.1924. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WDT19240902.2.12
18. Wright-St Clair R. Historia Nunc Vivat Medical Practitioners in New Zealand 1840-1930. Christchurch: Cotter Medical History Trust; 2003.
19. Doctors at Sea. Northern Advocate. 1946 04.11.1946.
20. New chair established. Press 1982 22.12.1982. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19821222.2.104
21. Education Vacancies: A Chair in Genral Practice. Press. 1988 09.07.1988. Available from: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19880709.2.160.6
22. McAvoy BR. The Last, the Least, the Lonely and the Lost. Nelson: McAvoy, B. R.; 2023.