Guttmann's obituary for Cairns:

'During the recent war, Brigadier Cairns became Consulting Neurosurgeon to the British Army' (24)

'From the early onset of the war, Sir Hugh Cairns was a determined advocate of early rehabilitation of war victims with head injuries and their return to useful life as soon as possible. He also realised very soon the necessity of specialised treatment and rehabilitation of sufferers from spinal cord injuries, having seen at first hand the unsatisfactory conditions which prevailed for these patients in military base hospitals or busy orthopaedic, neurosurgical or general surgical units. When Spinal Units were set up, he was very keen to transfer his paraplegics to these units as soon as possible.' (24)