Harold Gillies

Sir Harold Gillies (1882 to 1960) was a New Zealand born surgeon who became known as the father of modern plastic surgery. Born in Dunedin and trained at Cambridge and St Bartholomew's Hospital, he first worked as an ear, nose and throat surgeon. In the First World War he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps, persuaded the army to open a facial injury ward at Aldershot, and then helped found the Queen's Hospital at Sidcup, where he and his colleagues devised reconstructive techniques for wounded soldiers; more than 11,000 operations were performed on over 5,000 men. He was knighted in 1930, advised the Ministry of Health, the RAF and the Admiralty in the Second World War, and trained surgeons from the Commonwealth. His book Plastic Surgery of the Face appeared in 1920. This entry records his work as it is documented, not medical advice.