A new display, highlighting the outstanding work undertaken by one of Stoke-on-Trent’s unsung heroes, has gone on show at The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery.
The soft opening of the display, dedicated to one of the city’s least heralded sons, is now scheduled to be followed by an official launch on the 23 January 2025 - the birthday of plastic surgeon John Grocott, who helped change the lives of so many people for the better before, during and after the Second World War.
And all of this also coincides with the news that the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS) is to include Fenton-born Grocott in their Icons and Heroes Gallery in its new virtual museum.
Trained by Sir Harold Gillies and Archibald McIndoe, two of the original ‘Big Four’ of British Plastic Surgery, Grocott was the first in-house plastic surgeon outside London, taking charge of the North Staffs Infirmary’s plastic surgery unit in 1939, when he was just 29, and running it singlehandedly throughout the war and beyond.
“John Grocott is the unknown ‘Fifth Man’ of British Plastic surgery, and the first of its second generation”, explains Martin Coady, Curator of the BAPRAS Collection. “His considerable skills were recognised early on, but personal modesty contributed to his ‘flying under the radar’ compared to many trained later during the Second World War. This has hidden many significant contributions he made to the lives of people nationwide during that war, and over many years afterwards to the people of the Potteries.”
More details can be found here.
Between D-Day in June 1944 and the end of February1945, almost 3,000 servicemen, from all over the country, were brought to Stoke for treatment. Those with life-changing facial injuries and burns were placed in the care of John who rebuilt jaws, mouths and cheeks; created eyelids, noses and ears; and changed lives for the better while also continuing his general surgery.
John’s genius in helping to rebuild the lives of many seriously injured servicemen is now, at long last, gradually being acknowledged.
He was included in the ‘long list’ of those vying for the Civic Pride prize in the 2024 Stoke-on-Trent Your Hero Awards. And, thanks to the support of the City Council Museums Service and increasing awareness of local people of John’s story, there is now a display about him at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery.
Located within the Spitfire Gallery, the display case dedicated to Grocott is filled with items relating to his life and work in Stoke-on-Trent.