Gamgee Tissue possibly led to the character name (Sam Gamgee) in J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings". The connection is not certain: in Appendix F to "The Lord of the Rings", Tolkien mentions, but at the same time denies, the reading of "Gamgee" as a pun relating to the name of Sam's wife, Rosie "Cotton". He further elaborates the 'real' Westron names of which 'Gamgee' and 'Cotton' are translations. However, in the same section Tolkien also addresses "hobbit" (which was certainly created first and translated afterward, as described in Tolkien's own comment on the initial writing of "The Hobbit")
Sampson Gamgee Sampson Gamgee Dr Joseph Sampson Gamgee, MRCS, FRSE (17 April 1828, Livorno, Italy – 18 September 1886) was a surgeon at the Queen's Hospital (later the General Hospital) in Birmingham, England. He pioneered aseptic surgery (having once shared lodgings with Joseph Lister), and, in 1880 invented Gamgee Tissue, an absorbent cotton wool and gauze surgical dressing. He was the son of Joseph Gamgee (1801–1895), a veterinary surgeon in Leghorn, Italy, and his wife, Mary Ann West (1799-1873). He was the sibling of Dr John Gamgee, inventor and Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at Dick Veterinary College, Edinburgh and Dr Arthur