Sampson Gamgee: a great Birmingham surgeon
Authors: H M Kapadia
Journal: Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (2002)

The name Gamgee is best known as that of Frodo's faithful friend in The Lord of the Rings—Sam Gamgee. During his childhood in Warwickshire, JRR Tolkein picked up something of the local vocabulary, adopting dialect words into his speech—‘miskin’ for dustbin, ‘pikelet’ for crumpet and ‘gamgee’ for cotton wool1. The last owed its origins to Sampson Gamgee (Figure 1), the Birmingham surgeon who amongst other things invented Gamgee tissue, a surgical dressing.



Figure 1

J Sampson Gamgee (reproduced from Birmingham Med Rev 1935;10:158)



Joseph Sampson Gamgee (known as Sampson) was born in 1828 at Leghorn in northern Italy, the eldest son of Joseph Gamgee, a British veterinary surgeon2,3,4,5,6. The family moved to Florence, where Sampson was educated7. He first visited England at the age of fifteen, when he rode across Europe on horseback; at eighteen he left Italy permanently to come to London3,4,5,8. With his cosmopolitan upbringing he was fluent in French, German, Italian and Spanish as well as English.

Intending to become a veterinary surgeon like his father, he entered the Royal Veterinary College in London in 1847 and by the age of twenty-one was a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons3,4,5. Gamgee always maintained his veterinary interests, being for a time vice president of the College2. While a veterinary student he was invited to attend lectures at University College Hospital4,6,7 and his work was so good that he was persuaded to become a student there7. Joseph Lister was a classmate with whom he shared lodgings6. Though they later disagreed professionally, they remained friends. During the summer of 1849 he travelled through France, Germany and Italy, making contacts in various clinics and hospitals3,6. In Paris, he was befriended by Louis Pasteur, who gave him an excellent testimonial8. Before obtaining Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1854, he had won five gold medals including the Liston Gold Medal for surgery, becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh a little later2,7. His first post was as house surgeon to Sir John Erichsen at University College Hospital, and he then moved on to become surgeon to the British-Italian Legion, first-class staff surgeon to the Royal Navy, and superintendent of the Military Hospital in Malta during the Crimean War3,4,8. After a short spell as assistant surgeon to the Royal Free Hospital he gained the post of surgeon to the Queen's Hospital, Birmingham in 1857. It is said that he moved there because of its large Italian community6. His reason for resigning from the Royal Free was that ‘The management of that hospital was not in accordance with the only principles consistent with due regard for the interests of mankind and of science9.’ Details of this dispute have yet to emerge.

Gamgee's election to the surgical staff of the Queen's Hospital was fraught with controversy. Appointments were made by the Governing Council of the Hospital and Medical School, composed of laymen, professors at the Medical School and members of the hospital staff. The professors would submit to the Council the names of two applicants, with a special recommendation for one of them3,5. Their chosen candidate was usually elected: this time he was turned down. The professors had declared Gamgee's superiority over the other five applicants10 for the following reasons11: he had distinguished himself at University College London and University College Hospital; he had received strong testimonials while studying in Europe; the Secretary of State for War, the Director-General of the Army Medical Department and others had expressed a high opinion of his services during the Crimean War; some of the most distinguished medical men in the country had submitted testimonials in his favour; and his literary work was well known. The lay members, led by the Rev Dr Miller, Rector of St Martin's in the Bull Ring, elected by one vote J F West, house surgeon at Queen's Hospital (the only position he had held)4. Even West admitted his opponent's superiority12. The election was disputed: views were expressed in the press, the BMJ ran a commentary on the events, and Dr Miller even preached a sermon on the subject3,4. The professors distributed a statement opposing the appointment, firstly because canvassing (which was forbidden) had occurred on West's behalf and, secondly, because the post should have gone to the candidate whom the professors regarded as ‘best fitted’, which West was not. Four days later, West's appointment was declared void and Gamgee was elected14. West's friends were angry, claiming that the substitute appointment should not have happened without a separate meeting15. Eventually a compromise was reached and both Gamgee and West were elected16. But this was not the end: who would be the senior, Gamgee or West?17. It was decided that they would be on equal terms, with seniority to be determined later. Surprisingly, four years later West was appointed as Gamgee's senior2. The following testimonials14 show that Gamgee had already made a name for himself.


‘... no one in the profession... is in every way so highly qualified as Mr Gamgee for the post of surgeon to a hospital... ’—John Erichsen

‘Mr J S Gamgee... is a gentleman exceedingly well qualified in his profession, and equally active and zealous, and a good linguist’—G J Guthrie

‘You were conspicuous for your superior talents...and your enthusiastic passion for surgery... your turn of mind is peculiarly practical, and all your investigations have a bearing on the improvement of the art you profess’—Joseph Lister

‘... the profession [has] every good reason to expect much aid and advancement... from Mr Gamgee.’—James Young Simpson