The Classic

Gathorne Robert Girdlestone (1881–1950)2,3 was the son of the Reverend R. B. Girdlestone, honorary canon of Christ Church, Oxford. He was educated at Oxford and at St. Thomas's Hospital, London. Early in his career, fate took a hand when he entered general practice in Shropshire at Oswestry, the site of what is now the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital. Very shortly afterward, attracted by these two strong personalities, he took up a position in the hospital, where he remained for five years. This association with Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt established a goal for his life, that of extending the work of Hugh Owen Thomas and Robert Jones in improving the care of the crippled. He achieved his goal in his work as a planner, teacher, and administrator, and in his practice as an orthopedic surgeon. During World War I, Girdlestone directed the orthopedic division of an army hospital in Oxford. After the war, this hospital evolved slowly, becoming the Wingfield-Morris Orthopaedic Hospital. His friendship with Sir William Morris, Lord Nuffield, led the latter to support generously orthopedic projects, one of which was the endowment of the first chair of orthopedic surgery in Britain. Girdlestone was appointed Nuffield Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Oxford in 1937. His organizational and administrative genius resulted in the development over a long period of a complex and complete regional system for the care of the crippled and injured in the Oxford area, the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre. This system has been cited as a model of its kind. As a surgeon, Girdlestone is remembered particularly for his work on the surgical treatment of tuberculosis of the bones and joints, and for his advocacy of hip joint resection for some cases of advanced tuberculosis,4 acute pyogenic infection,5 and unilateral osteoarthritis.6 Joint excision of resection for tuberculosis and other chronic infections and for gunshot wounds has a long history, and many distinguished surgeons have contributed to the development of the operations.1 Because of his major interest in resection of the hip joint for a variety of conditions, it is appropriate to use Girdlestone's eponym as the generic term for such operations. LEONARD F. PELTIER, M.D.