Page 15 - Sylvia Malt - Side by Side

Many of those left behind stepped in to help maintain law and order, such as Charles
Thomas Knight who undertook the task of Special Constable. His father’s building
company, Thomas Knight Builders, built Sidcup’s Cottage Hospital and Thomas Knight
was one of the Hospital’s Trustees. Others stepped in as conductors on the trams, worked
on the farms, and collected money for the “Tobacco Fund”. Women and girls knitted gloves
and socks for the troops or like Mrs Rose Morris took on the nightly job of lighting Foots
Cray's gas lamps. The majority felt that if the men were willing to fight for their country,
those that remained behind should do all they could.

Queen’s Hospital, Sidcup

From 1917, The Queen’s Hospital, Frognal in Sidcup (later re-named Queen Mary’s
Hospital) was the centre of the pioneering work being out carried by New Zealand-born
surgeon Major Gillies, who resided in Cray Road, Foots Cray. Driven by his persistence,
and fuelled by the flood of casualties from the battle of the Somme, the Queen’s Hospital
was developed as the First World War’s major centre for maxillo-facial and plastic surgery.

The dedicated medical staff were organised on national lines, with contingents from Great
Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Between 1917-1921 they treated and cared for
over 5,000 gravely injured servicemen who would otherwise have been permanently
disfigured and would have had little alternative but to live a life in the shadows. Many were
very reluctant to return home, not wishing to face their family and friends until their
disfigurement was corrected as far as was possible.

Major Gillies first opened a hospital at Aldershot and treated thousands of facial injuries.
But the hospital was soon found to be too small and alternative premises were sought.
Moving to Sidcup in 1917, which was then considered to be very much a countryside
location, the men’s welfare and future prospects of earning their living was a major factor
in re-locating at the palatial house of "Frognal", the former home of Lord Sydney.

Major Harold Gillies (top row, far right) photographed with Queen Mary

Major Harold Gillies, born in New Zealand in 1882, studied medicine at Cambridge,
qualifying as a surgeon in the UK. He joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1915 and
went to France, where he became interested in plastic surgery of the face.

Major Gillies later employed one of his patients as his chauffeur. His work was recognised
throughout the world as being a major advancement in the treatment of plastic surgery and
he was knighted in the 1930 King’s birthday honours.

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