Person Cheyne; Sir; William Watson (1852 - 1932); bacteriologist and surgeon Cheyne William Watson Sir bacteriologist and surgeon 1852 - 1932 British Male At sea, off Hobart Town, Tasmania, Australia 14 December 1852 18521214 Holloway Sanatorium, Virginia Water, Surrey, England 19 April 1932 19320419 Memorial service: Chapel of King's College Hospital, London (25 April 1932)

59 Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, London (1891)

Bacteriologist; Surgeon Pathology Bacteriology Surgery Medicine Education: Aberdeen grammar school; King's College, Aberdeen; MB; CM (Edin) Career: Attended lectures given by Joseph Lister (FRS 1860); became Lister’s dresser; studied under A.C Theodore Billroth in Vienna and Freidrich Daniel von Recklinghausen in Strasbourg; returned to England and became house surgeon to Lister; began bacteriological research and was awarded the Syme bacteriological scholarship (1877); demonstrator of anatomy in Edinburgh (1877); passed the examinations for the membership od the Royal College of Surgeons (1879); awarded the Jacksonian prize by the College for his dissertation on antiseptic surgery 1881); appointed assistant surgeon at King's (1880) afterwards becoming surgeon (1887), professor of the principles and practice of surgery (1891), and professor of clinical surgery (1902); travelled to Berlin to work in Koch's laboratory (1886); Hunterian professor of surgery and pathology (1892); appointed civil consulting surgeon to the forces in the South African War (1899); appointed surgeon-in-ordinary to the king (1910); he was made consulting surgeon to the navy and he served in the Dardanelles with the fleet (1914); served as MP for the universities of Edinburgh and St Andrews (1917-1922); gazetted lord lieutenant of Orkney and Shetland (1919-1930). Honours: CB 1899; Bt 1908; KCMG 1915 Memberships: FRCS (Eng) ; court of examiners; Council; President 1914-1916 Awards/Medals: Lister medal 1924 Parents: Andrew Cheyne (d. 1867), of Ollaberry, Shetland, captain in the merchant navy, and Eliza (d. 1856), daughter of William Watson, minister of the united parishes of Fetlar and North Yell. Spouse: 1) Mary Emma (d. 1894), daughter of the Revd William Servanté, of Plumstead, Kent (29 January 1887); 2) Margaret (d. 1922), daughter of George Smith, of Lerwick, Shetland (1894). Children: 1st marriage) two sons and a daughter who died in infancy; 2nd marriage) one son and two daughters. Pioneered the use of antiseptic surgical methods. Instrumental in establishing the science of bacteriology in Britain. Vascular surgical instument "Watson Cheyne Dissector" has been named after him. Fellow 07/06/1894 42 George Murray Humphry; Daniel John Cunningham; Edward Emmanuel Klein; Frederick William Pavy; Thomas Henry Huxley John Simon; William Bowman; James Paget; John Scott Burdon Sanderson; Jonathan Hutchinson; John Tyndall; Thomas Lauder Brunton; George Johnson; Joseph Lister; Samuel Wilks Sources: Bulloch's Roll; DNB Obituaries: Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1932-1935 vol l pp 26-30, plate, signed by W B Cheyne W W, IM Maull 000833.jpg International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN 0-9696035-3-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.1932.0007 RCN 13866 RCN 1306 14 Dec 1852 - 19 Apr 1932 The past Fellows entries are under continuous revision. If you have queries or additional information to contribute, please contact Library@royalsociety.org. Content in external sources is not controlled by the Royal Society and historical sources may include content that is now unacceptable. Reviewed on 28/03/2024 as part of the Name Authority Project update. NA1316 21/11/2001 Andyg pmab 17/03/2026 RS_NET\VirginiaM Yes 35d590f6-39f3-4a45-b8e0-554b42b4feeb