EPW044559 ENGLAND (1934). The J. E. Hanger and Co Ltd Prosthetic Limb Manufactory and surrounding residential area, Roehampton, 1934

J E HANGER



The British arm of this company met a difficult time in the 1980s when it was discussed in parliament (Hansard, 26 Nov 1986, 29 Jan 1987, and other dates). The Company had been taken over by [[BTR plc]] (British Tyre & Rubber Co. Ltd) and a management/worker conflict arose. Hansard reports (1987) indicated the intent to cease manufacture in Roehampton due to an industrial dispute. The company began many years earlier...



The British company was established as a separate entity by the son of James Edward Hangar, around 1915, when the First World War provided many men requiring assistance. Roehampton was the HQ.



[[James Edward Hanger]] Senior was born 1843 in Virginia (USA) and joined the Confederate cause, but within 24 hours (before he had signed his enlistment papers) his left leg was blown off by a 6 pound cannon ball and he became the first amputee of the civil war. He was fitted with a wooden leg with which he was unhappy and he designed his own, producing "the worlds first articulated prosthetic leg with knee and ankle joints" receiving Confederate Patent 155. A more technical description says his invention was "replacing the then used catgut tendons of the ‘American Leg’ with rubber bumpers to control plantar and dorsiflexion"



Read more in Enabling the Human Spirit: The J.E. Hanger Story Paperback – 2003, ISBN-13: 978-1891231988

Image of the Roehampton works in the early years, around 1924. No indication of photographer or original copyright owner, published over 70 years ago.