Thomas Porter McMurray

The tradition of excellence in orthopaedic surgery in Liverpool was maintained by T. P. McMurray, an orthopaedic surgeon in the direct line of Hugh Owen Thomas and Sir Robert Jones. His textbook of orthopaedic surgery became a classic, he achieved eponymous fame with rotation osteotomy, but above all his pupils remembered him as a supreme master of the craft of operative orthopaedics, a modest unassuming personality and an impish sense of humour.

Born in Belfast, McMurray graduated from Queens University in 1910 and went to Liverpool the next year as House Surgeon to Sir Robert Jones. For a young doctor coming under the magnetic charm of such an influential figure it was understandable that he set out to devote himself to orthopaedic surgery. During the Great War he was surgeon to the Military Orthopaedic Hospital at Alder Hey where his mentor Sir Robert Jones had responsibility for training English, Canadian and American surgeons.

He was elected FRCSEd in 1923, and after clinical appointments at the David Lewis Northern Hospital, The Royal Liverpool Childrens Hospital he became Director of orthopaedic studies in Liverpool in succession to Jones in 1933. When the first Chair of orthopaedic surgery was established in Liverpool in 1938 he was the obvious choice. Those fortunate enough to work with him, remembered him as a supremely gifted orthopaedic surgeon, and a skilled and speedy operator. As the years went by he operated less and conformed and developed the Liverpool tradition for conservatism in orthopaedic surgery. He developed the original Lorenz osteotomy for malunion of femoral neck fracture and developed displacement osteotomy for osteoarthritis of the hip, the widespread adoption of which further enhanced his reputation. Those who came to observe him were always impressed by his dexterity as an operator and the skill and artistry of his technique.

His hero was Hugh Owen Thomas whose principles he practised and taught throughout life. He could be dogmatic and intolerant if Thomas’s principles were denied. He wrote the life of Hugh Owen Thomas in 1935 and shortly afterwards “A Practice of Orthopaedic Surgery” written in clear and simple English.

In personal terms he could be as brusque and outspoken as H.O. Thomas, yet as charming and kind as Robert Jones. He was essentially shy, unassuming and disliked pomposity.

McMurray truly succeeded to the most famous tradition and practice in British orthopaedics when he succeeded to their practice and his name appeared below theirs in the famous practice at 11 Nelson Street. During an air raid in 1941 this famous house was destroyed and with it his records and memorabilia.

Away from surgery it was his vitality, his impish boyish good humour and his sense of fun that endeared him to friends. He was valued by many as a companion and his perpetual appearance of youth allowed him a boyish sense of humour.

His legacy was to develop the great postgraduate school of orthopaedics in Liverpool which he maintained and fostered in the tradition of H.O. Thomas and Robert Jones. He died suddenly in 1949 and was buried in Denbigh. He had been President of the British Orthopaedic Association and at the time of his death was President elect of the British Medical Association.