Object numberRCSSC/P 569.11
CollectionSpecial collections
CategoryVisual works
Object nameReconstructive Surgical Procedures, Wounds, Gunshot, Portraits, Clinical subjects (visual works), Pastels (visual works)
DescriptionPortrait of Private S Gardiner, by Henry Tonks, 1917
This is part of a series of portraits made by Henry Tonks (1862-1937) showing patients treated by Harold Gillies and colleagues at Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot and Queen's Hospital, Sidcup, during and after the First World War.
On the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916, 35-year-old New Zealander Private S Gardiner, of the 7th Canterbury Regiment, suffered a gunshot wound to the chin that fractured his jaw. He was admitted to the Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot, on 11 July 1916 and underwent three operations there and at the Queen’s Hospital, Sidcup, between 18 September 1916 and 16 October 1917. Ten months after his injury, surgeons tried to graft bone to bridge a gap in his jawbone, but because Gardiner lacked teeth the wound did not heal properly and they removed the graft. On 16 November 1917, Private Gardiner was transferred to the New Zealand Military Hospital at Walton-on-Thames. In 1950 Gardiner returned to visit Gillies, reporting that six of his seven sons had served in the Second World War, all returning with their jaws intact.
Production date 1917
Artist
Tonks, Henry, 1862-1937, artist, Sidcup
Sitter/subject
Surgeon/clinician
Associated institution
transferred
War Office (1921)
Physical Location
Location
Not on public display: contact museum for access conditions
Physical Information
Physical descriptionPastels on paper, 27.8cm by 21.1cm. Mounted in set of 4 with P 569.9, 10 and 12. Frame dimensions: 890mm height by 680mm width by 20mm depth.
Dimensions
paper height: 278 mm
paper width: 211 mm
paper width: 211 mm
Bibliography
SourceBennett 1986
NotesThe article contains a biographical account of Tonks and a description of his work with Harold Gillies, and colour reproductions of all of the drawings in this series.
SourceGillies 1920
154-155
SourceGillies & Millard 1957
26