Amputation: A Dramatic Act, 18th Century Britain’s Most Famous Case – Dawn Kemp

Last Updated on 13/08/2025

18th CENTURY BRITAIN’S MOST FAMOUSCASE – SPEAKER: DAWN KEMP

Contemporary representations of surgical operations in Britain in the eighteenth century are rare. The indelicacy of presenting moments of the most extreme human agonies, even by the most celebrated satirists, was largely deemed beyond acceptable taste. Protection of the surgeons’ professional space from the public eye was important to contain fear and anxiety surrounding their practice. Guarding against patient exploitation was as important to hospital governors, mindful of their hospital’s reputation and keen to gain donations from wealthy benefactors, as to the patients themselves.

A recently recovered oil painting, stolen from the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1983, ‘provides a unique visual record of British surgical practice in the mid-1700s.

Dawn is Director of Museums and Special Collections at the College and was Project Director and co-curator of the redesigned Hunterian Museum which opened there in May 2023.