An unusual partial typescript carbon copy (two of a possible five ‘volumes’) of an apparently unpublished interwar account (dated December 1934 in the Introduction) of modern artificial limb fitting by R. D. Langdale Kelham (M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P.; 1891-1964), “the father of limb fitting” (RCS England, [c.1964]); according to the index and his introduction, Kelham sought to offer an overview of modern artificial limb fitting (“a greater advance has been made in the study and manufacture of Artificial Limbs since the Great War than at any other period in our history”), including the different materials used for artificial limbs (willow versus metallic), stump types (including the “Ideal Stump”), as well as discussing some of the main firms then producing artificial limbs. The first binder (Vol. I) comprises the Title and Contents pages, Introduction and first five chapters: ‘Section 1. Articulated Metal Limbs for Above Knee Stumps’ and the second binder (likely Vol. III) comprises chapters 12-17 in ‘Section 3. Special Metal Limbs - Difficult Stumps’; ‘Section 4. Articulated Willow Legs’ & ‘Section 5. Pylon; Peg Legs; Stump Conditions’.
In 1934 Kelham was Surgeon-in-Charge at the Ministry of Pensions and based at its Limb Fitting Centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital,
Roehampton, as was Captain A. R. Maxwell, a specialist in artificial arm fitting, who, according to the Introduction, contributed chapters on upper limb fitting (his chapters are not included here). For whatever reason, their account wasn’t published, though both men are mentioned as providing “general lectures and demonstrations [...] at the Ministry’s Limb-Fitting Centre at Roehampton [but not as authors or compilers]” in Walter Womersley’s Foreword to the (authorless) 1939 Ministry of Pensions pamphlet, Artificial limbs and their relation to amputations (London, H.M.S.O.). The pamphlet sought, similarly, to share up-to-date information about the advances made in the field. Womersley noted: “The Ministry has thus perforce become a pioneer in the development of the modern surgery of amputations, in the construction of all types of artificial limbs and appliances and, what is of almost equal importance, the fitting of the artificial limb under trained surgical supervision,”; in the latter Kelham played a key role, especially.
Following his service in WWI, Kelham had gained experience at limb fitting centres in Newcastle and Bath, before joining the staff at
Roehampton, where he remained until retirement. The orthopaedic surgeon recognised “the need to prepare the patient for wearing the limb, to teach him [sic] its use, and to reinstate him [sic] in society,” indeed, “he was one of the first to practise rehabilitation, and provided systematic training for doctors coming into the work” (RCS England, [c.1964]). Kelman was an important early medical voice in arguing for the rights of people with amputations and for their roles in society. Ten years after writing this typescript, Kelman was created OBE in recognition of his war work and the following year (1945) the Free French Government awarded him the Médaille d’Honneur du Service de Santé Militaire.
Kelham went on to publish the following works under his own name: Amputations and artificial limbs, with George Perkins (OUP, 1942); ‘Amputations and limb-fitting’ in Surgery, ed. Sir Zachary Cope (HMSO, 1953), as well as various contributions to medical journals.
Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) (c.1964) ‘Kelham, Roy Dyson Langdale (1891-1964),’ Plarr’s Live of Fellows webpage.