Obituary FORMER MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31198, 24 October 1966, Page 10

Obituary FORMER MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT

Dr. Thomas Morton, the former medical superintend-ent-in-chief of the North Canterbury Hospital Board, died in Christchurch yesterday. He was 62. At the time of his retirement in 1963, the chairman of the board (Dr. L. C. L. Averill) paid the following tribute to Dr. Morton: “He has been a great-hearted friend to all connected with the hospital services in North Canterbury—a wise clinician, an imperturbable administrator, and a thoughtful advocate for the betterment of all patients in our hospitals.” Dr. Morton, an Englishman, came to New Zealand in 1949 as assistant medical superintendent of the Christchurch Hospital. Before that he was the senior medical officer to the London Transport Board. He became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, London, in 1927. In 1928 he graduated bachelor of medicine, with honours in medicine, and bachelor of surgery. He graduated doctor of medicine in London in 1930.

Among the appointments held by Dr. Morton in England were those of casualty

officer for six months, house physician to a professional medical unit for six months, in 1928-29, and medical registrar to the late Sir Maurice Cassidy, King’s Physician, for three years from 1929 to 1932. He was an acting resident

assistant physician to St. Thomas’s Hospital on several occasions, and was in general practice at Worcester from 1932 to 1935. He was honorary physician, Worcester Royal Infirmary, and chief surgeon, Worcestershire Constabulary. Dr. Morton was also assistant medical officer at Lewisham Hospital, London, for nine months in 1936. Front 1936 he worked for the London Public Transport Board and was its acting chief medical officer from 1942 to 1946. He is survived by his wife and four children.