Bone plate (fracture plate) believed to have been placed in position by Sir Arbuthnot Lane, 1914-18 War

Bone plates are used to support fractures and encourage them to heal in proper alignment. This rather rusty example of twelve screws fixed into a plate is believed to have been put in position by Sir William Arbuthnot Lane (1856–1943), a leading surgeon and health campaigner.

Lane pioneered the technique of internal fixing of fractures as opposed to using external splints. Lane inserted his first internal splint in 1894, and after 1905 he introduced his steel bone plates and screws. His methods were soon taken up in the United States and Germany but not in Britain until 1912.