John Grocott

MRCS, LRCP, MBBS, FRCS

John Grocott is the unknown “Fifth Man” of British Plastic surgery, and the first of its “Second generation”.

Under the tutelage of Gillies and McIndoe, who recognised his potential early on, he established the first regional plastic surgery unit outside London, in Stoke on Trent, being its sole practitioner for many years. His personal modesty, and low output of academic material have contributed to him “flying under the radar” compared to many who came after him. This belies the contributions he made over many years to a large swathe of the population nationwide during the Second World War, and the people of the Potteries after it.

Personal Life

Born on 23 January, 1910 in Stoke on Trent, John Grocott was the only son of William Grocott headmaster of the Church of England school at Fenton, Staffordshire, and Eleanor Jane Grocott née Shemilt.  The family home was 58 Heron Street, Fenton, a terraced house near the C of E School where William taught. He had two sisters.

Grocott attended the Orme Boys’ School in Newcastle-under-Lyme where he excelled. The young Grocott was clever and inquisitive with a natural flair for building and fixing things, often pushing his parents’ patience to the limit as his projects took up more and more space in their modest home.  

In 1927, when he was 17, he transferred to Longton High School, which had a reputation for the  sciences. In the same year he won the Guy’s Hospital Medical School War Memorial Scholarship for chemistry and biology. He went to Guys in 1928 coming under the influence of Herbert Eason and William H Trethowan in particular, before qualifying in 1933. He returned to Stoke as house surgeon at the North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary.

The North Staffs Infirmary

Grocott hadn’t been at the hospital very long before Eric Young, a member of the hospital board, offered him the chance to train in plastic surgery

under the direction of Young’s friend, Sir Harold Gillies.  Young had grand ambitions for his hospital, wanting specialist units at a time they were not common. He was acquainted with Harold Gillies, and asked him to establish a new plastic surgery unit in Stoke with the aim of training Grocott to take it forward. Gillies agreed, and the new unit opened in January 1934, making it the first dedicated plastic surgery unit North of London.

Both Gillies, and his other protégé, Archibald McIndoe began visiting Stoke one weekend per month to train Grocott. McIndoe was also appointed Honorary Plastic Surgeon to the Infirmary in 1935, Grocott obtaining his Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons that same year.  

Both Gillies and McIndoe continued holding training sessions for Grocott until the spring of 1939. They obviously thought highly of him to put in so much effort, so far from their London base. After approximately 120 days total instruction, and with war looming, Grocott was left in sole charge of the unit, aged just 29. Grocott became the first whole-time plastic surgeon in the area.  At a time when there were no formal plastic surgery training schemes and the specialty in Britain was dominated by the “Big Four” in London, Grocott probably lays claim to being the fifth full time recognised plastic surgeon in Britain.

The First Plastic Surgery Unit Outside London

Grocott was to run it singlehanded throughout the war, operating on servicemen who had suffered severe facial injuries and burns. Having been recruited into the Emergency Medical Service in 1940, he also travelled to work at other hospitals around the country including Rainsford Mowlem’s unit at Hill End Hospital St Albans, Harlow Wood Hospital and the Leicester Royal Infirmary. The Stoke unit was also to receive one of the original saline baths produced for the treatment of burns patients. 

In May 1947, Grocott was chosen, along with four other surgeons, to accompany Sir Harold Gillies on a lecture tour of the United States where they each presented a paper to the American Association of Plastic Surgeons. 

John Grocott continued as Consultant plastic surgeon to the Infirmary and The Haywood Hospital, Burslem, until his retirement in 1975. He remained the only plastic surgeon serving all North Staffordshire.   He was also to operate at Harlow Wood Orthopaedic Hospital and The Park Hospital in Macclesfield between 1945and 1950, as an Associate Plastic Surgeon at the Leicester Royal Infirmary between 1948 and 1950 and as Consultant Plastic Surgeon at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital, Oswestry, until 1976.

Later and personal life

Outside surgery, Grocott, was an accomplished engineer who would most certainly have had an alternative career had he not studied medicine. From an early age he demonstrated his artistic flair by repainting the face of an old oak long case clock with a design incorporating leaves birds and flowers. He also became interested in woodwork and tools in general. As an adult, he was said by friends to “know everything about everything”, often drawing diagrams to illustrate what he was talking about. Perhaps no surprise when one considers the technical and design skills inherent in plastic surgery. His passion for cars led him to customise several Alvis and Jaguar vehicles.  1947 saw him embark upon the design and build of his own sports car. Based upon a Jaguar Mk 7 chassis, this electric blue, futuristic masterpiece was registered in 1959 and often described as “The Batmobile”.  Grocott obtained special permission from the Chief Executive of Jaguar to modify the vehicle and call it “The Grocott Jaguar”. The vehicle is still around today and still turning heads!

John Grocott married three times. In July 1936 he married Mona Wayte. They later divorced and he married Alethea (Ann) Savage, his theatre sister, in 1954. After her death in 1963, he married Kathleen (Kay) Muldoon in 1966. She predeceased him in 1985. None of his marriages resulted in children.

In the 1970s John Grocott moved to the Isle of Man., Having suffered a debilitating stroke some time before, he died at his home there of pneumonia aged 82, on 21 April 1992.  He married three times, but had no children. 

Contributor: Ros Unwin