A New Nose for Matthew Latham
We are thankful to the Royal Society for funding this research as part of their Places of Science grant scheme. Our project, ‘Treating the Troops’, looks at medical advances through warfare in the 19th and 20th centuries.
This content includes explicit discussion of surgery and graphic images which some people may find upsetting.
The Battle of Albuhera was a bloody battle fought in 1811, during Napoleon’s effort to conquer Spain in the Peninsular War.
The 3rd Regiment of Foot (the Buffs) were one of four regiments attacked from behind by the French during the battle. Caught in a terrible rain and hail storm, their brigade could not fire their muskets – or see the enemy charge from behind them. The Buffs suffered a massacre: 83% of the regiment were killed. In the midst of this slaughter, Lieutenant Matthew Latham’s bravery stood out.
The PWRR Museum, as part of our Places of Science project, were able to refer to an account of Matthew Latham’s story from the Royal Society’s library. This source has been unappreciated by historians studying Latham and the battle. Published in 1816 by Latham’s surgeon, Joseph Constantine Carpue, it is the earliest account of Latham’s bravery, written by a man who was very close to him. Carpue’s account sheds new light on Latham’s bravery, his injuries, and his recovery.
"I will surrender it only with my life!"
Lieutenant Latham saw a group of enemy soldiers with lances, on horseback, attack the soldier carrying the Buffs’s colour. The colour is a flag which signifies the regiment’s pride. It used to be carried into every battle, where it provided a point for troops to rally to. If the French captured the colour, it would destroy the Buffs’ already flagging morale.
Latham, with no thought for himself, waded into battle to save the colour. As he tried to grab the colour; a lancer sliced off his arm. That did not stop Latham. He threw away his sword, grabbed the pole the colour was attached to, and ripped the colour off it. Latham was wounded five more times. A lancer even struck off a large chunk of his cheek, and most of his nose; the wound was so severe that only his right nostril remained. Through this onslaught, he managed to stuff the colour into the front of his jacket.
Finally, one of the lancers charged and struck Latham so hard that he was thrown several metres. He was knocked out when he hit the ground.
A group of fusiliers found Latham, and the colour, later in the battle. They thought Latham was dead, took the colour from him, and returned it to the Buffs.
Once the battle was over, a group of British soldiers found Latham crawling to a stream to drink. Despite all the odds, he was still alive.
Latham's Initial Recovery
At the time, the British Army did not have purpose-built hospitals where soldiers could recover. Latham had to be carried to a local convent. Without medicines we take for granted today – antibiotics, antiseptic or painkillers – surgeons dressed his wounds, and amputated the remains of his slashed arm.
Latham recovered as best he could and returned to the Buffs. This may appear a strange choice, but the army was a place of safety – the men around him knew how he had been so badly injured. They did not judge his appearance, unlike the rest of society. Without a nose, he suffered frequent colds and infections.
While the Buffs were stationed in Brighton in 1815, Latham’s commanding officer presented him to the Prince Regent (later George IV). The Prince, hugely impressed by Latham’s heroism, paid for Latham to undergo surgery to give him a new nose.
Major General Bloomfield is commanded by the Prince Regent, to request that Mr Carpue will give the unfortunate case of Captain Latham… the utmost attention and care
The Surgical Method
Nasal reconstruction – creating a new nose – was not a common surgery in Europe in 1815. Some surgeons had managed to replace noses before, using skin from their patients’ upper arm to create the new nose. However, these operations were not always successful, and there was a risk of a nose falling off in cold weather!
Indian surgeons, in contrast, had created a much more successful method to replace noses. They used skin from the patient’s forehead, not their arm, to create the nose. Joseph Constantine Carpue used their method when he operated on Latham in January 1815.
Carpue had never seen the operation performed himself, but he had read a description and seen a portrait of a man called Cowasjee published in 1794. Cowasjee was an Indian bullock-driver for the English army. He was one of five Indian men working for the East India Company who had their noses replaced with this type of surgery in 1792.
Carpue was the first British surgeon to successfully perform this surgery in Britain, from the description, in 1814. He immediately became famous; he even became a fellow of the Royal Society. Latham was the second person Carpue operated on, and the first wounded British soldier to have his nose reconstructed.
The Operation
The top drawing to the right, from Carpue’s publication, shows Latham before his surgery. His cheek had healed with a lot of scarring.
Latham endured at least two operations to receive his new nose. He wanted to keep his nostril and preferred a scar down the middle of his nose. Carpue made changes to how he would perform the surgery for Latham to make sure he had the nose he wanted.
In the first operation, Carpue cut out a roughly nose-shaped flap of skin from the middle of Latham’s forehead. He twisted it to bring it into contact with new cuts made around Latham’s nose, so the edges of his skin would knit together. Latham’s nose and face were held together with stitches and sticking plasters so they would heal. Carpue even complained that it was very difficult to apply plasters to the scarred section of Latham’s cheek – it was probably painful to remove, too.
Latham claimed to be ‘free from pain’ throughout – Carpue certainly doesn’t mention any painkillers, during or after the surgery! After ten days of swelling and a ‘considerable’ amount of pus, it became clear the surgery had been successful. Carpue wrote that Latham’s forehead and nose had completely healed in six weeks.
In October 1815, Carpue operated again to ensure the nose he had created fitted properly on top of Latham’s old nose, cutting along the line visible in figure 2. This operation was also a success. Carpue wrote about a third surgery he would perform, to open Latham’s new left nostril. Figure three, on the bottom right, shows how Latham’s nose looked after two surgeries. At the top, above his nose, is the scarring on his forehead.
A New Life
These radical operations transformed Latham’s life. He felt that “he could never be sufficiently grateful” for the Prince Regent. Without his generosity, Latham would never have been able to afford to have surgery. Prince George apparently also paid for him to be attended by Carpue while he recovered. He even sent one of his carriages to take Latham for a drive every day. However, Prince George’s financial records don’t include mentions of any payments regarding Latham or Carpue – perhaps the records did not survive, or possibly the Prince Regent (a man who was always in debt) never did actually pay!
Latham left the army and retired in France, where he married a French woman. Not much is known of his life after his surgery. He died in 1865 and is buried in the village cemetery at Blingel, in Pas-de-Calais. This photo (left) of Latham shows his face long after his surgery – Carpue’s work is remarkable.
Remembering Latham today
Latham’s story is one of true courage on and off the battlefield, but he received very little credit for his heroism at the time. Reports of the battle of Albuhera failed to mention him – even the first Regimental History of the Buffs missed Latham out. It was not until 1840, when a surgeon of the Buffs wrote a letter to the United Service Gazette, that Latham’s heroism became public knowledge.
The Buffs, however, always celebrated Latham, treating him as a true hero for saving the colour. The remaining men and officers of the Buffs, in honour of his brave deeds, raised money for a gold medal, which cost 100 guineas. It is the larger medal Latham wears in the photo above.
The Buffs also commissioned the ‘Latham Centrepieces’, three solid silver statuettes depicting Latham’s bravery at Albuhera (see right). They were made in around 1880. Unfortunately, they show Latham with his left arm cut off, when he actually lost his right! Two centrepieces remain with the regiment as part of their chattels. The third is on display in the National Army Museum.
Bibliography
An account of two successful operations for restoring a lost nose from the integuments of the forehead in the cases of two officers of His Majesty’s Army; to which are prefixed historical and physiological remarks on the nasal operation; including descriptions of the Indian and Italian methods. Carpue, J.C. (1816). London.
