My Brighton and Hove | People | Local folk | Walter 'Nick' Laurence: orthopaedic surgeon

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Royal Alexandra Childrens' Hospital

Photo by JJ Waller

Walter 'Nick' Laurence: orthopaedic surgeon

By Len Liechti

An Australian in Brighton

I am trying to find out information about the orthopaedic surgeon Walter Laurence, who was born in 1918 and died in Brighton in 2005. Laurence was an Australian who worked as a consultant at the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital and Brighton General Hospital during the 1950s.

A remarkable man

Because of his life-changing surgery on me, and presumably on many others, I think he deserves an entry on his adopted hometown's premier website. I am hoping it will be possible that others, who benefited from his surgical skills, will be able to help with information about this remarkable man.

A debt of gratitude

I was on intimate terms with the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital for the first eight years of my life (1949-1957). Having been born with bilateral talipes (two clubfeet), I spent much of my first year as an inpatient, during which time Walter Laurence performed feats of surgical magic to restore my feet to virtually normal, allowing me to live a completely mobile life despite this initially crippling disability. I consider that I owe Mr Laurence a debt of gratitude greater than any I owe to any other person, apart perhaps from my mother who bravely nursed me through this period.

Can you help?

This, then, is a plea for any information on Walter Laurence, both as a favour to me and as a tribute to him. If you can help, please leave a comment below. I look forward to reading your entries and proffer my thanks in anticipation.

This page was added on 18/06/2011.

Comments about this page

Nick Lawrence was a remarkable consultant. I had suffered with pains in my left knee from my primary school days which my GP diagnosed as 'growing pains'. As I got older the diagnosis changed to 'rheumatism' for which little could be done. In my early 20s this became so severe that my father took me to see Nick privately and for the first time my knee was x-rayed. From this x-ray he could see that I had smashed the femur - not recently but when I was about 8 years old. He operated on my knee twice within the next 18 months pinning some bone and removing other fragments including cartilage and I have never had a days pain since. That was 40 years ago. Truly a remarkable man.

By Dee Simson (29/07/2011)

Nick Lawrence, was certainly remarkable, my two year old son started to limp badly. I was living in Bahrain at the time and was advised to return to the U.K. Nick checked my son out and after tests diagnosed a bone tumour, he operated at the Nuffield in Hove, and again the following year he recovered completely and has never had any problems until now. I believe that Nick fell at the local recycling tip and died as a result of his fall a few years ago. I will always be grateful to him.

By Tina Shaheen (Smith) (09/05/2012)