Comments on: Allen & Hanburys’ Surgical Appliances

By: Jill Wilson

Jill Wilson — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 18:37:55 +0000

My Mum is using her Allen & Hanburys throat pastille tin as her pins and needles container a I write (she thinks it is probably about 80 years old!)

I particularly liked the reference to the corset for the ‘discerning’ patient – what were the others supposed to wear?

And what was the meaning of “Camp” in those days??

One wonders what the gastrostomy plug was for…and how big was it???

And what about the bowel scissors and blow pipe in the post mortem instruments?! The mind boggles…

Thanks for sharing – tee! hee!

By: Paul Loften

Paul Loften — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 13:12:19 +0000

John Venes
It suddenly came to me overnight it may have been Bill Venes at Parmiters. Its a long time ago so my apologies for my patchy memory.

By: sprite

sprite — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 00:06:07 +0000

blimey! this is the stuff nightmares are made of…. and yet, some have not changed that much, more plasticky perhaps and more aerodynamic shapes, but still recognizable as kins of those here

By: Paul Loften

Paul Loften — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 18:08:11 +0000

John Venes if you are the John Venes that went to Parmiters there is a photo of you on their FB page standing next to me which I posted a while ago.!

By: Paul Loften

Paul Loften — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 14:12:25 +0000

I usually love tools. I dont know why but these tools scare me . I am taking to my workshop to recover

By: Mark P

Mark P — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 14:09:31 +0000

Yikes!! I think I feel much better now, and will stop complaining about the state of medical care in our time.

By: John Finn

John Finn — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 13:00:58 +0000

Fascinating and gruesome in equal measure!
But I remember Allen and Hanbury for their tins of blackcurrant throat pastilles. The empty tins were often to be found in the houses of my parents and their families as containers for pins, buttons, coins and I’m pretty sure if I searched I could find one here somewhere.

By: Mary

Mary — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 12:40:07 +0000

Ouch!
Having been an NHS clinician I am of an age where I can remember some of those appliances!

By: Ron Bunting

Ron Bunting — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 11:13:50 +0000

Ok #8690 came with a padlock too….. but 8686 might be as useful addition to the toy box. ha ha

By: John Venes

John Venes — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 09:40:58 +0000

Grim stuff!
I grew up in the small, 3 block council estate in Pott street, backing onto the factory. We played football and
used their wall as a goal. We never knew exactly what they did in there. I don’t suppose the residents there do either!