From the moment the first machine gun rang out over the Western Front, one thing was clear: mankind’s military technology had wildly surpassed its medical capabilities. Bodies were battered, gouged, hacked, and gassed.
The war claimed millions of lives and left millions more wounded. In the midst of this brutality, however, there were also those who strove to alleviate suffering. Not all soldiers had access to surgery, nor did everyone wish to undergo months (or years) of painful operations.
Artists sculpted masks for disfigured soldiers. This prosthesis was created by the American sculptor Anna Coleman Ladd. During the war, she created masks of the soldiers’ faces from clay or plasticine in order to create a prosthetic piece made of thin galvanized copper.
The metal was painted with hard enamel to resemble the recipient's skin tone. Ladd then used real hair to create the eyelashes, eyebrows and moustaches. Had it not been for her efforts, many of these men would have lived in isolation.
My next book, THE FACEMAKER, is about the pioneering surgeon Harold Gillies, who rebulit soldiers' faces during WW1. Gillies established one of the world’s first hospitals dedicated entirely to facial reconstruction.
It was there that he assembled a unique group of practitioners that included artists and mask makers. Their task was to restore what had been torn apart, to recreate what had been destroyed. Gillies and his team restored not just the faces of the wounded but also their spirits.
I'm so excited (and nervous) to share five years of research with you. #TheFacemaker comes out June 7, and I would be hugely grateful for your preorders. SIGNED copies still available.
The US signed copies will have a specially designed bookplate by @TealCartoons which will be printed and bound into the first edition books. I hope you like them!
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In 1887, the artist George F. Watts proposed a tribute of a different sort for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. He believed art could act as a force for social change & suggested a monument celebrating "heroism in every-day life."
(2/12) Watts referred to Alice Ayres, a nursemaid who died in a fire after she saved the lives of her employer’s children by throwing a mattress out the window and dropping them to safety. She was then overcome by the fumes and stumbled out of the window to her death.
(3/12) Watts proposed that a marble wall inscribed with the names of everyday heroes be built in Hyde Park. Sadly, his suggestion could not garner enough support, leading him to quip that if he had proposed a race course instead, he would have had plenty of sympathizers.
Here’s a true story about a woman who survived her execution, only to end up on the anatomist’s dissection table in the 17th century. Follow along as I untangle this terrible tale for you.
(2/7) It was a cold, blustery morning in 1651 when Anne Greene, an unmarried woman, was led to her place of execution at Cattle Yard in Oxford. Just days before, she had been found guilty of murdering her newborn baby and hiding its corpse in her employer’s house.
(3/7) As she approached the gallows, she declared her innocence, blaming instead "the lewdness of the Family wherein she lately lived." Afterwards, the executioner secured the noose around her neck & turned the ladder, leaving her to hang before the crowd.
In the 19th century, it was customary during a funeral to provide biscuits for mourners to take away. They were often wrapped and sealed in black wax. Here you see an example of a funeral biscuit wrapper from 1828.
(2/9) This tradition was probably derived from the earlier practice of "sin-eating," whereby the sins of the deceased were transferred to a person who, for a fee, consumed food & drink handed to him over the coffin.
(3/9) Mourners would pay the village sin-eater to rid their departed loved ones from all the sins they had accumulated during their lives. The sin-eater would then perform a ritual which would allow the dead to enter Heaven unburdened.
#OTD 1901, Queen Victoria's funeral took place. Here's a little medical history THREAD (1/9) about one of Britain's longest reigning monarchs. 👇
"Queen Victorian on her death bed" by Emil Fuchs.
(2/9) On 7 April 1853, Queen Victoria became the first monarch to use chloroform to ease the pains of childbirth. Prince Leopold was born within 53 minutes of administration of the drug, which Victoria described as "delightful beyond measure.”
(3/9) The anaesthetic powers of chloroform was first discovered in 1847 by the Scottish physician James Young Simpson. He and his two friends experimented with it on the evening of November 4th. At first, they felt very cheerful and talkative. After a short time, they passed out.
To kick off #NewYear2021, I'll be sharing 21 stories & images of Frontliners from history. From world wars to past pandemics, these are the unsung heroes who worked tirelessly to keep others safe during troubling times.
This thread is dedicated to all the #Frontliners of 2020.
#1) During WWI, a stretcher-bearer’s job was not only dangerous, but strenuous. It could take 10 hours to travel 400 meters across the mud of a blasted battlefield. The most decorated rank-and-file British soldier during the conflict was Private W. H. Coltman: a stretcher-bearer.
#2) Mary Jane Seacole was a British-Jamaican nurse who set up a "British Hotel" behind the lines during the Crimean War (1853-1856) for wounded soldiers. Seacole did not have formal qualifications, but relied on her skill and experience as a healer and a doctress from Jamaica.
During the American Civil War, serious attempts were made to reconstruct the faces of soldiers injured in battle. Pictured here is Private Roland Ward, who underwent several operations without anesthetic to repair his face in the 1860s.
(3/8) The most skillful surgeon to emerge during this period was Gurdon Buck, who helped repair the face of Private Carleton Burgan after a gangrenous infection destroyed his upper mouth, palate, right cheek & eye.