In 1823 Powell Charles Blackett, a naval surgeon, donated to the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons a tourniquet he had developed for applying pressure to the carotid artery. The curator of the museum, on whom Blackett had tested the device in front of the Board of Curators recorded in his diary that “the compression was so great as to produce numbness for many hours; & felt for some days afterwards”. The tourniquet, together with a medical support belt, also developed by Blackett, are held by the museum.
Please also see Roman Catholic Blacketts in Can You Help Us?