Cautery clamp
Maker: Unknown victim of Dr Isaac Baker Brown
Cautery clamp, c.1860
Papier mâché, papercut, broken butterfly
Museum no: V.40
The London Surgical Home for the Reception of Gentlewomen and Females of Respectability Suffering from Curable Surgical Diseases was established in 1858. It nestled inconspicuously between the villa-lined streets of Notting Hill.
It is where Dr Isaac Baker Brown performed what he often called 'the operation', a clitoridectomy. Brown believed the clitoris to be the seat of 'women's problems', causing such ailments as epilepsy and hysteria, and many of these sadistic procedures were undertaken without the consent of his victims.
Brown also patented a surgical implement called a Cautery clamp to stop bleeding. The Museum's example, likely a reparational piece created by one of Brown's victims, is decorated with fine Victorian papercut work.
