Sir Harold Gillies | |
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| Born | Harold Delf Gillies (1882-06-17)17 June 1882 Dunedin, New Zealand |
| Died | 10 September 1960(1960-09-10) (aged 78) Marylebone, London, England |
| Alma mater | Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge |
| Occupation(s) | Otolaryngologist and pioneer plastic surgeon |
| Years active | c. 1910–1960 |
| Known for | Plastic surgery, sex reassignment surgery |
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Sir Harold Delf GilliesOBE FRCS (17 June 1882 – 10 September 1960) was a New Zealandotolaryngologist and father of modernplastic surgery for the techniques he devised to repair the faces of wounded soldiers returning from World War I.[1][2]
Gillies was born inDunedin,New Zealand, the son ofMember of Parliament inOtago,Robert Gillies.[3] He attendedWhanganui Collegiate School and studied medicine atGonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where despite a stiff elbow sustained sliding down the banisters at home as a child, he was an excellent sportsman. He was a golfblue in 1903, 1904 and 1905 and also a rowing blue, competing in the1904 Boat Race.[4] In 1910, he acquired a position working as an ENT specialist forSir Milsom Rees' medical practice.[5] At Caius he became a freemason and rose to be Master of Caius Lodge. Gillies was a student atSt Bartholomew's Hospital and won the Luther Holden Research Scholarship in 1910. He was also Lecturer on Plastic Surgery in that medical school.[6]
Following the outbreak ofWorld War I he joined theRoyal Army Medical Corps. Initially posted toWimereux, near Boulogne, he acted as medical minder to a French-American dentist,Auguste Charles Valadier, who was not allowed to operate unsupervised but was attempting to develop jaw repair work.[7] Gillies, eager after seeing Valadier experimenting with nascentskin graft techniques, then decided to leave for Paris, to meet the renownedoral surgeonHippolyte Morestin. He saw him remove a tumour on a patient's face, and cover it with jaw skin taken from the patient.[8] Gillies became enthusiastic about the work and on his return to England persuaded the army's chief surgeon,William Arbuthnot-Lane, that a facial injury ward should be established at theCambridge Military Hospital,Aldershot.[9]
The ward rapidly proved inadequate for the increasingly large number of patients in need of treatment, and a new hospital devoted to facial repairs was developed atSidcup. The Queen's Hospital opened in June 1917, and with its convalescent units provided over 1,000 beds. There, Gillies and his colleagues developed many innovative plastic surgery techniques; more than 11,000 operations were performed on over 5,000 men.[10] The hospital, later to becomeQueen Mary's Hospital, was atFrognal House (the birthplace and property ofThomas Townshend, Lord Sydney after whom Sydney, Australia, was named).
For his war services Gillies was knighted in the1930 Birthday Honours.[11][12]Sir William Arbuthnot Lane, 1st Baronet, commented, "Better late than never".[citation needed]
Between the wars Gillies developed a substantial private practice withRainsford Mowlem, including many famous patients, and travelled extensively, lecturing, teaching and promoting the most advanced techniques worldwide.
In 1930 Gillies invited his cousin,Archibald McIndoe, to join the practice, and also suggested he apply for a post atSt Bartholomew's Hospital. This was the point at which McIndoe became committed to plastic surgery, in which he too became pre-eminent.[13][14]
DuringWorld War II Gillies acted as a consultant to the Ministry of Health, the RAF and the Admiralty. He organised plastic surgery units in various parts of Britain and inspired colleagues to do the same, including pioneering plastic surgeon Stewart Harrison who founded the plastic surgery unit atWexham Park Hospital, Berkshire.[15] His own work continued at Rooksdown House, part of thePark Prewett Hospital, Basingstoke. During this period, and after the war, he trained many doctors fromCommonwealth nations in plastic surgery.
Instead of retiring at the end of the Second World War Gillies had to keep working as he had insufficient savings.[12]
In 1946, he and a colleague carried out one of the firstgender-affirming surgery from female to male onMichael Dillon.[16] In 1951 he and colleagues carried out one of the first modern gender-affirming surgeries, from male to female, onRoberta Cowell,[16] using a flap technique, which became the standard for 40 years.
Gillies made a visit to New Zealand in 1956 after an absence of 51 years.[12]
On his work for Cowell and Dillon, Gillies remarked: “If it gives real happiness, that is the most that any surgeon or medicine can give.”[17]
Gillies suffered a slightcerebral thrombosis at the age of 78 while undertaking a major operation on the damaged leg of an 18-year-old girl on 3 August 1960.[18]
Gillies died on 10 September 1960 atThe London Clinic, at 20 Devonshire Place, Marylebone.[18] Despite earning an estimated £30,000 per year between the First and Second World Wars he left an estate of only £21,161.[18]
Gillies married Kathleen Margaret Jackson on 9 November 1911, in London. They had four children. His eldest son, John Gillies, flewSpitfires withNo. 92 Squadron RAF in World War II. John was shot down over France on 23 May 1940, and became a POW for the duration of the war. Harold's youngest sonMichael Thomas Gillies followed his father into medicine. ActorDaniel Gillies is his descendant.
Gillies was an amateur golfer. He played in theAmateur Championship every year from 1906 to 1931 and represented England in theirannual match against Scotland in 1908, 1925, 1926 and 1927. He won the 1913 St. George's Grand Challenge Cup and was runner-up in the 1914Golf Illustrated Gold Vase, behindHarold Hilton.[19] He won thePresident's Putter in 1925. His older brotherCharles won the 1899Australian Amateur.
For many years his home was at 71 Frognal,Hampstead, London. Ablue plaque on the front of that house now commemorates his life and work. In Cambridge, in 2015, Gonville and Caius College built twelve houses and named the road "Gillies Close" (postcodeCB5 8ZD) in his honour. Gillies Lane atGun Hill Park inAldershot, the formerCambridge Military Hospital, similarly commemorates him.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)| External videos | |
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 Q&A interview with Leslie Fitzharris onThe Facemaker, 11 July 2022,C-SPAN |
