Newark Observer: Sir John Arderne is the father of English surgery

In an occasional series of off-beat articles about life in and around the town, our columnist reflects on Newark’s links with the father of English surgery.

I suspect when many people in Newark are asked to think of Sir John Arderne they are only reminded of the pub in Church Street, close to the market square.

What is less commonly known is that Sir John, who lived from 1307 to 1392, is regarded and revered as the father of English surgery.

This is because he rescued surgery from the barber surgeons of earlier times (whom he regarded as primitive body carpenters) by making it a medical science.

In his book, Practica Chirurgiae (The Practice of Surgery) published in 1370, he describes a whole range of procedures that have become the basis of modern hospital practice — premedication with sedatives, cleanliness of surgical instruments, regular use of swabs to stem bleeding, clear descriptions of the surgery planned, and the need for patients to be reassured by tales that ‘may make them laugh, as well as the Bible and other tragedies.’

The probable reason why Sir John, who started his practice in Newark before moving to Nottingham and later to London, is not better known, is that he was a surgeon who avoided operations on glamorous parts of the body.

'He deserves a lot of the credit'

He was not a cosmetic surgeon who prettified his clients’ appearance, or an orthopaedic surgeon who showed off his fantastic artificial limbs, but a surgeon who operated on common and painful conditions in unfashionable parts of the body.

They were ones which, shall we say, were below the waist but above the thighs.

His operations for piles, fistulae and infections of the buttock, were highly successful and became pioneering procedures that were used as standard practice for later centuries.

Indeed, they have been little improved upon even in modern surgery.

So, if you happen to have any of these less publicised but highly successful operations and want to show your appreciation in the Sir John Arderne or any other hostelry, give a quiet toast to Sir John when no-one else can hear. He deserves a lot of the credit.