Jame's first leap into prosthetics

The story of James Gillingham’s remarkable prosthetics starts, rather tragically, during the marriage celebrations of the Prince of Wales in 1863. Amid the festivities, a local gamekeeper of Chard, William Singleton, had his arm shattered by the ramrod of a miss-firing canon. This injury required the amputation of Singleton’s arm up to the shoulder socket, a procedure carried out by the local surgeon, Dr Spicer.

Two years later, although some say it was three years, William Singleton visited Gillingham’s shop in Chard. At this meeting at the  ‘The Golden Boot’ Singleton explained how no one could provide a prosthetic suitable to his injury and Gillingham, in his typically generous fashion, offered to make a prosthetic free of charge.

This creation, was recorded in a photograph of lifting Gillingham in a wheelbarrow, would go on to impress medical practitioners across the country and set Gillingham, his son and grandson on a path that would see them treat an estimated 30,000 patients as three generations of Surgical Mechanists.

… and so the story began.

The Scapula Arm

The arm which Gillingham crafted was ahead of its time in both design and ability. It was made from hollow leather, lightweight wood with metal hinges at the joints and held to the body by straps and buckles. Singleton chose to have a hook instead of a hand as it was more practical for his work on the Cricket House estate. Thus the ‘Scapula Arm’ was born. The arm was so well made and fitted that Singleton was able to pick Gillingham up off the floor, by his belt. Dr. Spicer was so impressed that he encouraged Gillingham to show the Scapula Arm design to the leading medical experts in the field in London and sent him with a letter of introduction and recommendation. Gillingham was well received by the eminent Surgeons who were soon referring patients to him that needed individually crafted limbs.