GILLINGHAM

Humanitarian and inventor of the prosthetic limb, James GILLINGHAM (1839 – 1924) was a Victorian boot and shoemaker in Chard until 1863 when he began making artificial limbs from leather, moulded
like a pair of shoes. His first prosthetic limb was for a local man who had lost his arm. He then made prostheses on a permanent basis. As a result, Chard became a major centre of the British artificial limb
industry. By 1910 he had restored mobility, dignity and usefulness to more than 15,000 people. A man of principle Gillingham did not charge for his fittings or time for the first 20 years of production.