Honouring John Grocott

The people of Stoke on Trent are rightly proud of their heritage as the “World Capital” of the ceramics industry. The names Wedgwood, Moorcroft and latterly Bridgewater are rightly celebrated. Much less famous has been the unsung local hero of another, but strangely allied discipline – reconstructive plastic surgery.

That man was John Grocott. Rather than clay, he moulded and formed living tissue. His role in the history of British plastic surgery whilst working at the North Staffordshire Infirmary has gone “under the radar” until it was re-discovered and championed by dedicated local historian and author Ros Unwin. With colleagues she organised a display cabinet at the Potteries Museum in Stoke honouring his contribution to both patients and the specialty. The exhibit was officially opened on 25^th January 2025, in front of some of John's colleagues, patients and members of the public. The cabinet sits in the same gallery as a Mk 16 Spitfire, designed by another of Stoke’s renowned sons, R J Mitchell.

This was followed on May 10^th 2025 by the Mayor of Stoke unveiling a local blue plaque on Fenton Town Hall, the suburb in which John Grocott was born. This coincided with celebrtions to mark the 80^th anniversary of VE Day. Grocott made a significant national contribution to the management of the injured during the Second World War.

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Blue plaque image courtesy of Peter Stonier, the Stoke Sentinel.