neverforget Posted 6 December , 2020 Share Posted 6 December , 2020 No. Wrong field, and wrong country. Not continental. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 6 December , 2020 Share Posted 6 December , 2020 My chap's father was persecuted pre war by the medical community for practicing this particular branch of medicine, even to the point of an arson attack which destroyed their home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 6 December , 2020 Share Posted 6 December , 2020 As a result of this descendant of a lad who had been washed up on a beach after a shipwreck, death rates of 8/10 were turned around to survival rates of a similar ratio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 6 December , 2020 Share Posted 6 December , 2020 Has several medical epynoms named after him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 6 December , 2020 Share Posted 6 December , 2020 Is he something to do with a “Thomas splint” for fractures? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 6 December , 2020 Share Posted 6 December , 2020 He is everything to do with that John. Well played. Welsh History Month: Hugh Owen Thomas, inventor of the Thomas splint A tribute to Welsh orthopaedic surgeon Hugh Owen Thomas and his invention of a device that saved thousands of lives in World War I. By Polly Groom Splints are required for the treatment of broken limbs. They are made of any unyielding substance, such as wood, bark, bundles of twigs, wire, rifles, bayonets, swords &c … They should be bound to the limb with bandages, tapes &c”. Field Service Pocket Book, 1914. General Staff, War Office. World War 1 was not just fought on the battlefields. As men were brought into casualty clearing stations — shattered, bleeding and broken — an equally ferocious battle was fought to save them. The horrors of the war – the mud, the trenches and the artillery; trench foot, gas gangrene and shell shock – are well documented. Perhaps less well known are the advances in medical science and the pioneering medical treatments, still in use today, that allowed thousands of lives to be saved. One remarkable family, whose origins are unknown, stand tall in this chapter of medical history. In around 1744, two small boys were washed up on a beach in Anglesey following a shipwreck. One of them sadly died a few days later, but the other was adopted by a doctor. The boy, named Evan Thomas, followed in his adoptive father’s medical footsteps and specialised in bone-setting. He developed techniques never before seen in the UK. In Thomas' lifetime the splint was used for the treatment of fractures However, it was his great-grandson, Hugh Owen Thomas, who became known as the “father of modern orthopaedics”. Among a myriad of medical innovations, Hugh Owen Thomas is best known for the invention of the “Thomas splint”. In his lifetime the splint was used for the treatment of fractures, but it was Thomas’ nephew, Robert Jones (1857–1933), who demonstrated the importance and life-saving potential of the Thomas splint amid the chaos of World War I. Originally from Wales, Robert Jones studied medicine in London and moved into orthopaedics, specialising in military surgery. As the war relentlessly ground on, Jones became aware of needless deaths arising from injuries and compound fractures of the femur. Trauma to the femur, the largest bone in the human body, caused severe shock and blood loss from the two broken ends of the bone moving and grating together. Treatment was to splint the leg and evacuate the casualty to a clearing station for onward transport. A World War I casualty clearing station in Belgium (Image: Imperial War Museums) A Royal Army Medical Corps training manual from 1908 instructed that “A ‘rifle splint’ may be applied to a fractured thigh … if an old-pattern rifle is used, see that the rifle is not loaded. Place it on the side of the injured limb; butt in the armpit, trigger guard to the front…”. However, a report by the British Medical Association in 1921 cited that the correct application of a rifle splint “… is difficult, and when applied it has many disadvantages… The mortality that attended cases of fractured femurs was, at this period, appallingly high”. Very often, by the time the patient arrived at a field hospital, the damage was so severe that amputation was the only option. During the Battle of Arras over 1,000 compound fractures of the femur were tecorded Statistics from France in 1916 suggest that the mortality rate from this type of injury was, in fact, up to 80%. The majority of those servicemen who died – around 50% – died in transit, or at casualty clearing stations before they ever reached a field hospital. Believing in his uncle’s invention, Robert Jones and Colonel HMW Gray, a colleague and a fellow surgeon, set out on an ambitious campaign to educate all medical staff in the use and application of the Thomas splint. During the Battle of Arras – a period of six weeks of intense fighting in 1917 – over 1,000 compound fractures of the femur were recorded. All were treated with the Thomas splint and as a result, the mortality rate fell to around 16%, with only 5% dying at casualty clearing stations. Hugh Owen Thomas It is, of course, too simple to say that this huge drop in the death rate was due solely to the adoption of the Thomas splint. Other advances in military surgery had also taken place, allowing complex and severe wounds to be treated more efficiently than ever before. But it is worth repeating this remarkable statistic: if you suffered a broken femur in 1916, you had (approx) an 80% chance of dying; in 1917 this had been reversed, giving you more than an 80% chance of survival. Gunner William Towers, writing of his experiences in 1917, was one of these survivors: ‘I was one of fifteen drivers taking thirty horses to try and get ammunition through to our battery’s guns … just after we set off the Germans dropped a shell right by us and that was it. I remember going up in the air and landing on the floor.… They took us to a hospital in Étaples and then put me in a bed and fitted me with a Thomas splint, a round wooden ring with iron bars and a footrest". World War I saw huge medical advances in fields like plastic surgery Among the most fiercely fought battles of the war were those which took place in tented hospitals, in clearing stations and on ambulance trains. These were battles against dirt, disease and blood loss; battles to find new ways of treating new injuries on a scale never seen before. World War I saw huge medical advances in fields like plastic surgery, anaesthesia and X-rays as well as orthopaedics. It is impossible to say how many lives were saved by Hugh Owen Thomas’s invention and by his nephew’s introduction of the Thomas splint to the army. However, it is clear that it transformed the treatment of a common injury. It was used to great effect during World War II, and a version of it is still in use today. The darkness of World War I should not be forgotten, but neither should the shards of light within it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 6 December , 2020 Share Posted 6 December , 2020 Hi Steve Can I make a slight correction, Hugh Owen Thomas the splint “inventor” died in 1891, it was his nephew Robert Jones that pioneered splint use on the battlefield in WW1. I think the picture you posted was cropped from the pair of them together? and Jones’s picture is not in the article . This I believe is Major General R Jones RAMC (1857-1933) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 6 December , 2020 Share Posted 6 December , 2020 Just now, Knotty said: Hi Steve Can I make a slight correction, Hugh Owen Thomas the splint “inventor” died in 1891, it was his nephew Robert Jones that pioneered splint use on the battlefield in WW1. I think the picture you posted was cropped from the pair of them together? and Jones’s picture is not in the article . This I believe is Major General R Jones RAMC (1857-1933) Thanks John. I realised that but posted Hugh Owen intentionally as the actual inventor of the splint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 6 December , 2020 Share Posted 6 December , 2020 Ah being sneaky with a non WW1 personage 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 6 December , 2020 Share Posted 6 December , 2020 2 minutes ago, Knotty said: Ah being sneaky with a non WW1 personage 😁 Honestly I didn't see it that way John. We have had very many inventors feature before. His invention played a great part in the war even if he didn't personally. Hopefully I haven't been too naughty by including him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 6 December , 2020 Share Posted 6 December , 2020 1 minute ago, neverforget said: Honestly I didn't see it that way John. We have had very many inventors feature before. His invention played a great part in the war even if he didn't personally. Hopefully I haven't been too naughty by including him? Not at all- I'm so thick that when it got to medical eponyms, the best I could come up with was St. Vitus-and I'm pretty sure he was not of the Great War generation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 6 December , 2020 Share Posted 6 December , 2020 Not at all- I'm so thick that when it got to medical eponyms, the best I could come up with was St. Vitus-and I'm pretty sure he was not of the Great War generation Medical Eponyms Thomas test (1875) – diagnostic method for detecting fixed flexion of the hip joint Thomas knee splint (1865) Thomas wrench Thomas collar – to treat tuberculosis of the cervical spine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 6 December , 2020 Share Posted 6 December , 2020 Thomas the tank engine🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Sorry Steve, nothing wrong with your WIT, took me by surprise that’s all👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 6 December , 2020 Share Posted 6 December , 2020 👍👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 6 December , 2020 Share Posted 6 December , 2020 This chap worked for the police and his control is still in use today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 Not native to these shores he ended up in Lancaster before being moved elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 Angelo Siciliano? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 1 minute ago, Knotty said: Not native to these shores he ended up in Lancaster before being moved elsewhere. It's just dawned on me that I might know this bloke because of another long held interest of mine. I was distracted yesterday by thoughts of Johnny Weissmuller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 Sorry Mr V not A S but you are heading in the right directions.🙂 Mr P, go on do tell, if it is who you think, I was completely dumbfounded when I read his history, someone you would not associate with his “expertise”😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 What I would say is that if he is who I think he might be, my old martial arts instructor (now the England coach) introduced us to one or two of his techniques. Again, if it is him all I have to do now is remember his name. Still only going on a hunch and a half memory from long ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 The longer I'm spending on this hunch the more I'm becoming convinced that I've got it completely wrong. Not surprising; it would be the three thousand, two hundred and fifty sixth time I've let a hunch lead me completely down the wrong road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 Ok, he was a professional boxer at one stage in his career whilst in the U.K., and Mr P your martial arts may well be a good pointer to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 Leopold MacLaglan, brother of Victor? Neck and trip? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neverforget Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 I've found quite a few interesting boxing characters from the period, but no one yet that really fits the bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knotty Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 Another clue born in Germany Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now