Name: Hugh Owen Thomas Dates: 1834-1891 Nationality: English Place of Birth: Angelsey Last Post: A Liverpool Bone Setter Last ward round note: You know I should really stop smoking. Claim to fame: The Thomas Splint and Hip Flexion Test

From a long line of welsh setters (...er bone setters that is), Thomas set up practice in Liverpool after medical school working mainly from home. Reknown for his dark and slightly eccentric attire including a black naval cap and for his insatiable nicotine habit, he set about inventing orthopaedic splints including the cervical collar and heel wedges not to mention the Thomas Knee Splint which he mainly utilised for immobilsing Tuberculous knee joints. This was made ubiquitous by his famous nephew Sir Robert Jones, forefather to British Orthopaedics. Thomas took Jones (aged 16) under his wing and indeed paid for him to go to medical school.

The Thomas Test for fixed hip flexion is an absolute requirement for any clinical exam - leave it out at your peril. He also wrote a paper on the management of the pulled elbow in 1883.

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