DOLL SURGERY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 March 1940, Page 8

DOLL SURGERY

LONDON'S STRANGE HOSPITAL. One of London’s strangest hospitals is in King's Road, Chelsea, where the resident “surgeon” not only amputates but renews limbs and joints if the patient has lost any. Hidden away’ in the older part of King's Road, the passer-by’ would hardly notice the hospital, but the “doctor,” Miss E. Davies, has so many patients that she does not need to be’come better known. Actually, she runs a dolls' hospital, as she calls it on a sign that is crumbling with age. and her patrons range from future duchesses and countesses to grubby little urchins who come for repairs without a cent in their pockets. Miss Davies has run her hospital for over 25 years, and “operates” on the premises. When she was a small girl she found she had a gift for mending broken dolls, and decided that her life would be spent rejuvenating the dollies of other little girls. From a humble beginning she now works 12 to 14 hours a day, repairing and giving new life to dolls of every’ description. Some travel many thousands of miles for attention, including India, America, the Canary Islands, Bermuda, and many other distant places.