History of the Profession

The Handlers

Early surgery relied upon 'surprise and speed'. Prior to the development of anaesthesia, the patient was held down and loose limbs pinioned. Straps alone were not enough to hold down a half-crazed man so the handler became skilled in the where and how of holding the patient down without causing further harm.

In the History of Moorfields Eye Hospital, Treacher Collins writes of Sir William Lawrence "In those days, since all eye operations had to be performed without anaesthetic, at least four or five assistants had to be employed to hold the patient down. The division of labour was as follows: One assistant to fix the patient's head, one to depress the lower eye lid and fix the chin, one to confine the arms and upper part of the body and one to secure the legs and lower part of the trunk".

Sir Edward Morris writes in his history of the London Hospital; "There are still ghastly relics in the hospital of those terrible days; the great wooden operating table with its straps; the bell which was sounded before an operation to call assistants to hold down a patient, a bell whose terrible clang could be heard by every shivering patient in the building, including the patient, often a little child; a bell with a voice loud enough and harsh enough to make all Whitechapel shudder".

Beadles and Porters

These men were the elite of the hospital service and their earliest history goes back to Elizabethan times. Porters were appointed to open the hospital gates to let the poor in and out and the beadles were a mixture of policeman and ambulance man. Their duty was to clear the streets of the beggars (both infirm and healthy). Children went to Christ's hospital, the able bodied to St. Brides' house of correction and the infirm to St. Thomas' or Bart's hospitals.

In 1584 it was recorded that Hartford (the beadle) was no longer to make the hospital candles. As early as the 19th century there was a porter of the dissecting room and the dissecting room porter at both St. Thomas' and Guy's seem to have maintained close links with the resurrectionists. Sir Astley Cooper was noted for his successful negotiations with them, most likely via the offices of Butler who was the porter there at the beginning of the century.

The porters were also charged with keeping order among the medical students and in 1836 a dispute broke out at St. Thomas' when the porter tried to enforce the rule that only the dresser of the surgeon operating might stand in the centre area of the theatre. Two Guy's dressers tried to force their way in and Williams the porter seized one by the collar and was violently assaulted. The operation was suspended and the surgeon called the police. Two were fined for assault and a third for breaking down a door, but their counter charge of assault by Williams failed.

One of the most famous of the beadles was Rampley at the London Hospital. In an article in the London Hospital Gazette of November 1898, Dr May the Dean refers to him as the "Grand Old Man of the London Hospital". Rampley was connected to the theatre in about 1871, having duties in the post-mortem room. He was appointed surgery beadle in 1893, his predecessor, Stuckey, having been dismissed for not having a stomach pump ready for the surgeon at operation. He was closely associated with Sir Frederick Treves. He and Treves would go straight from the post-mortem room to the operating theatre, with or without washing their hands, as they felt inclined. Rampley attended nearly 40,000 operations and he invented the sponge-holder and needle-holder that bear his name.

1914 - 1918:- Before the advent of the Great War, theatres were said to be not a nice place for lady to work, although the first record of a theatre sister is at St. Thomas' in 1893. The war took a great toll on the fit young men of the country and many more nurses worked in theatre to fill the gaps. Upon return from the war the men were happy to fill any position offered and most of these attendants (as they were then known) became solely assistant to the anaesthetist.

1939 - 1945:-The Second World War brought a further exodus, but this time with a difference. Their usefulness was recognised and the armed forces trained them and the Theatre Technician was developed. Upon their return from the war these men were anxious to carry over their considerable skill to civilian hospitals, although few could find such employment.

The Box Carriers

These were employed by the surgeons to carry their box of instruments. During their time with the surgeon they became proficient in anticipating the surgeon's requirements. At St. Bartholomew's hospital they were attendant upon the three principal surgeons. At first they seem to have been recruited from among the patients and were paid 3d for every patient who was ordered to be 'bleeded'. The practice was discontinued in 1813 and the box carriers were appointed by the surgeons. There was a custom of 'following the box' where the surgeons had a box of instruments carried before them as they went around the wards and performed small operations then and there. The Beadles also followed the surgeon, carrying the brazier in which cautery irons were kept. The box carriers at Bart's survived into the 20th century as surgeon's attendants or theatre orderlies, disappearing from the records in about the 1920s.

Fred Wheedon B.E.M, who was Membership Secretary for the AODP until just before his death in 1989, was first appointed by a surgeon as 'Box Boy' at the Lambeth Hospital sometime during the late 1930s, although soon afterwards he was employed by the hospital, converting to the role of theatre attendant. Fred was elected to the Executive Council of the Association in the late 1940s, a position he held continuously until just before his death. In about 1976, Fred was assimilated to the ODA grade and was a local examiner for the City & Guilds well into the 1980s.