Harold Delf Gillies

11 Willow Walk

History of 11 Willow Walk

1851

Sarah Cullington, annuitant

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1861

Sarah Cullington, 49, semptress, b Suffolk

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1913

Thomas Charles Haigh, tailor

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In 1916 this was home of Sidney Beldam, b 2.11.1897 and his mother, Sarah Smith. He was a commercial  traveller, was conscripted in 1916 and assigned to the Army Service Corps. For the first six months he drove lorries taking troops to the coastal ports. He was transferred to the 3rd Bttn Machine Gun Corps and posted to France in April 1917. He received serious facial injuries from gun shot at Passchendaele in November. Left for dead for three days until stretcher bearers could get close enough to clear dead bodies, one bearer noticed Sidney move.

Sidney became a patient of Harold Gillies at Queen’s Hospital, Sidcup. By 1925 Gillies had performed 11,572 on 5,000 servicemen and has become widely recognised as the founder of modern plastic surgery. For more information about Harold Gillies and Sidney Beldam see:

http://oro.open.ac.uk/51734/1/51734.pdf