Robert Chessher (1750–1831) was the first British

Orthopedist Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics (American and British English spelling differences, alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgic ...

. He invented the double-inclined plane to help in the treatment of lower-body bone fractures.

Life

Chessher was born in

Hinckley Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England. It is administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in the administrative county of Leicestershire, after Leicester and Loughbor ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, in 1750. His father died during his infancy, and his mother married a surgeon named Whalley, residing also at Hinckley ; and to him, after education at Bosworth school, young Chessher was apprenticed. He early showed aptitude for improvising supports for fractured limbs, especially for the purpose of obviating contraction of muscles and skin. At the age of eighteen he became a pupil of Dr. Denman, the eminent London accoucheur, attending William Hunter's and Fordyce's lectures. He afterwards became house surgeon to the

Middlesex Hospital Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, England. First opened as the Middlesex Infirmary in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally clos ...

, but before long returned to Hinckley, on his stepfather's death, and remained there, unmarried, during the remainder of his life, resisting solicitations to return to London. He died on 31 January 1831.

Work

Chessher was a very ingenious mechanician, employing a mechanic named Reeves to carry out his ideas. After 1790 he applied a double-inclined plane to support fractured legs with great success. He invented several instruments for supporting weak spines and for relieving the spinal column from the weight of the head, and for applying gentle steady friction to contracted limbs or muscles. It is to be regretted that his manuscript cases were not published, but his retiring manners prevented his merits from being fully known. His personal character appears to have been most estimable.

References

;Attribution 2 Austin, Roger T (1981), "Robert Chesser of Hinkley 1750 - 1831 First English Orthopaedist" Leicester County Council Libraries and Information Service 1981

Sources

*Leonard F. Peltier. ''Fractures: A History and Iconography of Their Treatment''. p. 35. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chessher, Robert 1750 births 1831 deaths People from Hinckley