Identity of child amputee traced after 200 years

Researchers have uncovered the identity of a 12-year-old girl who underwent the first amputation of its kind more than 200 years ago.

Sarah Harris, from Great Addington, near Kettering, had the operation - recorded in a pioneering case report - in 1779 at Northampton Infirmary, now Northampton General Hospital (NGH).

Performed by a senior surgeon called Dr William Kerr, it is believed to be the first amputation through the hip joint in England.

Prof Andrew Williams, from the University of Northampton, said restoring Sarah's name to the medical paper published at the time "restores her humanity and it restores her dignity".

He added: "Also, we're talking about a pioneering operation, an operation that is still done to this day."

The researchers were looking into paediatric cases at the Northampton Infirmary between 1744 and 1804.

They discovered that Sarah was taken to the Northampton Infirmary with a tumour on her right thigh and that she was also suffering from a fever, a cough and night sweats.

Dr Kerr decided to amputate her leg at the hip joint to try to save her – an operation performed decades before anaesthesia.

She died 18 days later, but a post-mortem examination found the cause of death was tuberculosis.

The research team believes it can now be categorised as an "index case" – the first case of its kind with a confirmed name attached to it.

Prof Williams said the medical knowledge gathered "continues to benefit others to this day".

"The publication of the original case report in 1779 was a foundation stone in the history of paediatrics and child health, but without a name could not be an index case," he said.

He added that Sarah's contribution to medical knowledge, and her suffering, could now be acknowledged.

Prof Williams said the 12-year-old's story showed that "specialist child operations were taking place in local infirmaries many decades before we started to see anaesthesia, aseptic surgery and the establishment of specialist children's hospitals".

Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.