10 Facts About Sampson Gamgee

Joseph Sampson Gamgee, was a surgeon at the Queen's Hospital in Birmingham, England.

Sampson Gamgee pioneered aseptic surgery, and, in 1880 invented Gamgee Tissue, an absorbent cotton wool and gauze surgical dressing.

Sampson Gamgee was born in Livorno, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, where his father, Joseph Gamgee, was a veterinary surgeon; Sampson's mother and Joseph's wife was Mary Ann West.

Sampson Gamgee's classmate was Joseph Lister with whom he shared lodgings and considered him a close friend.

Sampson Gamgee obtained a post as House Surgeon at University College Hospital in London.

Sampson Gamgee then served as a surgeon in the British-Italian Legion during the Crimean War.

Sampson Gamgee died of Bright's disease in Birmingham on 18 September 1886.

Sampson Gamgee gave his name to the hobbit Sam Gamgee in JR R Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

Sampson Gamgee married Marion Parker, daughter of an Edgbaston vet, in 1886.

One son, Leonard Parker Sampson Gamgee, was a surgeon in Birmingham and his nephew was the biologist and classicist D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson.