The Times, Monday, Nov 16, 1903; pg. 12; Issue 37239; col C
Golf. Sunningdale Club v. Oxford University Club.
Category: Sport

Art 189 , The Times, Saturday, Jun 05, 1909; pg. 13; Issue 38978; col B
Marriages

"The winner of the 1910 Championship was G. R. Girdlestone, a medical doctor by profession. That year's event featured two holes in one, almost simultaneously, by Dr. Girdlestone at the 13th and by William Dodd at the famous Dell. That was the first time such an occurrence took place at an Irish Championship. The Clare Journal saluted the victory of Dr. Girdlestone: "By his splendid victory over the crack London golfer Sidney Fry, G. R. Girdlestone was hailed the winner of the Southern Championship of the Green Isle"

The Hampstead Golf Club, founded 1893, has a course of nine holes, with a length of about 2,500 yds., the holes varying from 100 to 420 yds. It is situated at Spaniards Farm, on pasture land with a clay soil, and has artificial hazards only. Play is possible throughout the year, the best months being April to September. Bogey is 78, and the amateur record, held by Mr. G. R. Girdlestone, is 71

.From: British History OnlineSource: Sport, ancient and modern: Golf. A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume II, William Page (Editor) (1911)

The Times, Friday, Mar 08, 1935; pg. 21; Issue 47007; col C
Sir Montagu Burrows Appreciations "C. L. G."; Lord Hampton; H. S. W.; A correspondent; Mr. G. R. Girdlestone, F.R.C.S..

The Times, Thursday, Jan 26, 1939; pg. 4; Issue 48213; col G
University News Resignation Of Prof. Girdlestone
Category: Official Appointments and Notices

The Times, Monday, Jan 01, 1951; pg. 8; Issue 51887; col E
Dr. G. R. Girdlestone
Category: Obituaries

The Times, Friday, Jan 05, 1951; pg. 7; Issue 51891; col B
Dr. G. R. Girdlestone Strong Faith Made Manifest Mrs. P. A. Spanoghe; M. L. J.; O. F. S

Gathorne Robert Girdlestone (1881-1950) was born at Christ Church, Oxford, on 8 October 1881. His father, Robert Baker Girdlestone - the seventh son of Charles Girdlestone (a Fellow of Balliol) and Anne (daughter of Baker Morrell, Solicitor to the University of Oxford) - was Principal of Wycliffe Hall at the time; he had two sons by his first marriage, but GRG was the only son of his second marriage to Annis, who named him after her brother, Sir Gathorne Hardy (who defeated Gladstone to become MP for Oxford from 1865 to 1876 and was made first Earl of Chambrook in 1892).

GRG went to Charterhouse School in 1896, read Medicine at New College, Oxford, and started his clinical training at St Thomas's Hospital in London in 1905. On 26 June 1909 he married Ina Mabel Chatterton: they had no children. He started practising surgery at Oswestry in Shropshire, and it was in nearby Baschurch that he first developed an interest in orthopaedics under Robert Jones, becoming an FRCS on 1 December 1911.

It was the First World that brought GRG back to Oxford. He was made Captain of the 3rd Southern General Hospital, which was housed in the Examination Schools. High Walls in Pullen's Lane, Headington was provided by Miss Katherine Feilden for the officer casualties, but more beds were needed for orthopaedic injuries, and in 1916 the committee of the Wingfield Convalescent Home offered its grounds. Miss Fielden paid for wooden huts containing forty beds to be erected there, and these became known as the Oxford Orthopaedic Centre. In 1917, the Wingfield Convalescent Home itself was taken over, and by 1919 there were 200 beds.

In 1920 GRG moved from Boars Hill to Headington, to the Red House (now numbered 72 Old Road), Headington, where he was to live for 28 years.

In 1933 the Wingfield Hospital was rebuilt, thanks to a donation from Lord Nuffield, and was renamed the Wingfield-Morris Orthopaedic Hospital. In 1937 GRG was appointed Nuffield Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery (thus becoming the first professor of orthopaedics in Britain). He retired from the chair in 1939 and moved to Frilford Heath in 1948, but continued to be interested in the hospital, helping to launch the scheme for the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in 1949.

GRG died in 1950 at the age of 69, and has the unique honour of having two Headington Roads named after him: Gathorne and Girdlestone Roads, one opposite each side of the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre.

Postscript on the Red House
When GRG moved out of the Red House in 1948, it was bought by the hospital and, together with a newer building next door, it eventually became the Ruth Jolliffe School of Nursing and Nurses' Home, named after the matron of the Wingfield-Morris Hospital from 1930 to 1952. It continued to be used as nurses' accommodation until December 2000. In 2003 Girdlestone's old house (below) is sadly boarded up and awaiting demolition.

The above door was opened by Mrs Ina Girdlestone one evening in the summer of 1930 when an unknown gentleman, who introduced himself as "Morris of the car factory", gave her a cheque for �1,000 to help keep the Wingfield Hospital in good repair, thus starting the association that was to lead to the creation of the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre.

Girdlestone's Tuberculosis of bone and joint / Revised by E. W. Somerville and M. C. Wilkinson.	Girdlestone, Gathorne Robert, 1881-	1965
Care and cure of crippled children; the scheme of the Central Committee for the Care of Cripples, by G.R. Girdlestone ...	Girdlestone, G. R. (Gathorne Robert), 1881-1950.	1925

Location	Girdlestone Memorial Library, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre NHS Trust, Windmill Road, Headington, OXFORD OX3 7LD
Telephone	(01865) 227361 (ANS)
Fax	(01865) 227362
E-mail	[email protected]
Web address
Hours: Staffed / Open	Staffed 8.00am - 6.00pm Monday - Friday For access out of hours you need to have a swipe card.
Admission Restrictions	Full membership of the library is awarded during the eight weeks medical students spend at the NOC. A �50 (refundable) deposit brings a library card and copies of the assigned books for the course.
Speciality	Orthopaedics, musculoskeletal disease and related disciplines

---