Set of amputation instruments
Maker
1. Simpson
2. Savigny and Co
3. William Haseldine Pepys (b.1775, d.1856)
Date
Circa 1800
Description
Set of twelve amputation instruments, five tourniquets with brass fittings, two straps, eight needles. Instruments made of steel and brass with wooden handles. Mounted in rectangular wooden case with green velvet lining.
It is thought that this set was used during the Peninsular War (1807 - 1814) between France and the allied forces of England, Spain and Portugal. The saw in this set is of the tenon type and was probably manufactured by Simpson, surgical instrument makers, at about the turn of the nineteenth century.
There are some later additions: the '55 Strand' inscription on the forceps provides this particular instrument with a date of manufacture after 1822 when the Simpson company moved to new premises in the Strand, London. Other pieces have some from other instrument makers including Savigny and Weiss.
The amputation set was originally part of the Raymond Russell collection, London. It was gifted in memory of the donor's son. The Wellcome Trust gifted it to the Medical History Museum in 1964.
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Object detail
Savigny and Co ▫ amputaton knife
William Pepys (b.1775, d.1856) ▫ forceps
maker's mark ▫ marked: 'LONDON/SIMPSON 55 STRAND' ▫ forceps
maker's mark ▫ marked: 'Weiss London' ▫ knife
maker's mark ▫ marked: 'Weiss IMPROV'D' ▫ tourniquet
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