Charles was born in London on 15 May 1908, eldest son of George, a mining engineer, and Marion Thomson (nee Edwards), both from families in Oamaru. As the family grew up they lived in several countries around the world including the UK, Canada, Malaya and Japan. When Charles grew to high-school age he returned to New Zealand to live with his grandparents in Oamaru and attended Waitaki Boys High School.

He began studies at Otago University in 1926, apparently against his father’s advice. To prove a point, he consequently paid his own way through university, working as a bus and taxi driver. The Depression interrupted his studies for several years, when he worked hard at his driving jobs and saved. He was, at this time, the proud owner of an ‘Indian’ motorbike!

Graduating in 1938, Charles became a house surgeon at Christchurch Hospital. Here he met Kathleen Margaret Nelson, a nurse from Karori, Wellington. They were married in Wellington in April 1941.

Turned down for overseas war service, he was manpowered to Westport for the remainder of the war. In 1947 the couple moved to Hastings, where Charles set up in general practice.

His practice in Hastings grew rapidly. In the early fifties, recognising the need for further knowledge in obstetrics, he spent a year in the UK, where he qualified with diplomas in both obstetrics and anaesthesia. He became a highly respected, skilled and capable GP and anaesthetist with a huge obstetric practice, gaining him the name of ‘The Baby Doctor’. When the intra-uterine exchange transfusion for rhesus-incompatible babies was pioneered in Auckland, one of Charles’ patients was the first recipient. Learning the technique himself, he then introduced the first intra-uterine exchange transfusion in the Hastings district.

With his thoroughly sound skills and knowledge of ethics, he taught many younger GPs, always with a kindly and helpful approach. He also lectured regularly to the nursing classes for many years.

In 1967, Charles and Kate moved to Nuie Island, where he acted as the chief medical officer for three years – a challenging and vastly different experience from his Hastings days. On their return they settled in Acacia Bay, Taupo, where Charles once again set up practice, eventually retiring some seven years later.

Charles and Kate had four children. The Hastings years are remembered by the family for the phone calls and departures in the middle of the night to attend deliveries (over 240 night call outs one year); dinners without him as he worked late at the surgery or visited patients; and stops to visit patients as the family set out for a family picnic. But Charles is also remembered as a kind, loving and fun father (albeit with very high standards and expectations that were at times difficult to live up to), on holiday in Taupo, building boats, fiddling in the workshop with his lathe, and building six grandfather clocks.

To his patients, he was a bit of a legend – that icon of history, a selfless family doctor, often paid with fresh cream, jam or eggs.

Charles passed away on 21 June 2003. Colleagues and family remember him as an example of honesty, hard work, commitment, dedication, loyalty, good manners and consideration.