Artificial left arm, United Kingdom, 1914-1916

Artificial arm for an amputee with a long left below-elbow stump. The construction incorporates a soft leather socket with 'U-shaped' jointed side-steels with a sliding elbow lock, sited on the outer side. This is connected to an adjustable leather upper arm 'corset' with wide front aperture. The terminal device is a double hook with a circular hole above, which was probably for agricultural use or other manual work. It has what’s described as a spline fitting, allowing it to be locked or to rotate freely. Probably made by Anderson & Whitelaw c.1914-1916, for an amputee who had lost a limb during the First World War (1914-1918).

Artificial arm made for a left below-elbow amputee who had lost his limb during the First World War (1914-1918). The leather lower-arm socket has a sliding lock which can fix the elbow in a number of positions. The arm terminates in a double blunt hook attachment which could be locked or allowed to rotate freely and was probably designed for agricultural or other manual work.

The limb is dated c.1914-1916 and attributed to Anderson & Whitelaw of London. They were a significant supplier of arm prostheses in the UK during the course of the First World War. Unlike artificial legs, which were numerically in greater need and largely supplied by American companies brought in to try and cope with the demands, British companies manufactured the greater proportion of the arms produced between 1914-1918,