Pair of wooden crutches

Pair of wooden crutches with weight-supporting leather strapping over the top pads, adjustable handgrips and rubber tips on each base, described as once being displayed in the Imperial War Museum, believed to be during its first incarnation at the Crystal Palace (1920-1924), probably made in the UK, c.1914-1920.

Crutches have long been a mainstay for use during recovery and rehabilitation after illness and injury and sometimes as a long term means to increase mobility. In Britain during the course of the First World War (1914-1918), and in the years that followed, they were issued to many tens of thousands of men who had been wounded during the conflict. For some, they were temporary aids for assistance during a process of recovery, for others they became lifelong companions.

Although artificial limb-making was an industry and a technology transformed by the First World War, for a range of reasons some leg amputees did not wear limb prostheses. They used crutches instead. This was sometimes through choice, but for others their injuries were such that an effective limb couldn’t be fitted or was found to be too uncomfortable or impractical. Ageing war veterans on crutches remained familiar sights around the country for many years after the war had finished.

This wooden pair was probably made in the UK during the war years or shortly afterwards and is recorded as originally being displayed at The Imperial War Musum. This was probably during that museum’s first incarnation at the Crystal Palace in south London, from 1920-1924.