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Authorised form of nameCheyne; Sir; William Watson (1852 - 1932); bacteriologist and surgeon
Dates1852 - 1932
NationalityBritish
Place of birthAt sea, off Hobart Town, Tasmania, Australia
Date of birth14 December 1852
Place of deathHolloway Sanatorium, Virginia Water, Surrey, England
Date of death19 April 1932
DatesAndPlacesMemorial service was held for him at the chapel of King's College Hospital, London (25 April 1932).
Occupationbacteriologist and surgeon
Research fieldPathology
Bacteriology
Surgery
Medicine
ActivityEducation:
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
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election07/06/1894
Age at election42
ProposerGeorge 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
RelationshipsParents: 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.
PublishedWorksRCN 13866
RCN 1306
OtherInfoPioneered 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.
Royal Society Obituary or MemoirClick to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices)
Image

Cheyne W W, IM Maull 000833.jpg

SourceSources:
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
CodeNA1316
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
IM/Maull/000833Cheyne, William Watsonnd
NLB/10/192Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Messrs Harrison & Sons18 October 1894
NLB/23/2/244Copy letter from Sir Michael Foster, to Professor William Watson Cheyne, Fellow of the Royal Society23 July 1902
NLB/22/165Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [William] Watson Cheyne, Fellow of the Royal Society15 March 1901
NLB/24/239Copy letter from Sir Michael Foster, to Professor William Watson Cheyne, Fellow of the Royal Society9 April 1902
NLB/24/136Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Watson Cheyne, Fellow of the Royal Society10 March 1902
NLB/41/434Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir William Watson Cheyne, Fellow of the Royal Society13 December 1909
NLB/41/391Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir William Watson Cheyne, Fellow of the Royal Society6 December 1909
NLB/45/348Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Sir W [William] Watson Cheyne Bart CB, FRS17 February 1912
MC/27/63Letter from [William] Watson Cheyne, 75 Harley Street, Cavendish Square, W, to Robert Harrison, Burlington House, W26 March 1912
NLB/45/538Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Sir W [William] Watson Cheyne Bart FRS23 March 1912
NLB/66/309Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir [William] Watson Cheyne, Bart., FRS7 April 1924
NLB/67/700Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to P. Thompson Esq.; Essex Museum of Natural History, Romford Road, E.15.18 February 1925
IM/000834Cheyne, William Watsonnd
RR/17/197Referee's report by William Watson Cheyne, on a paper 'The rôle of the various elements in the development and regeneration of bone' by William Macewen[March 1907]
NLB/37/77Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor W [William] Watson Cheyne FRS21 January 1908
NLB/36/839Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor William Watson Cheyne, Fellow of the Royal Society27 December 1907
EC/1894/09Cheyne, Sir William Watson: certificate of election to the Royal Society
MC/17/264Letter from Allan Macfadyen, Jenner Institute of Preventative Medicine, Chelsea Gardens, Grosvenor Road, London, to the Secretary of The Royal Society3 June 1889
MC/17Volume 17 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1897-1899
MC/27/62Letter from [William] Watson Cheyne, 75 Harley Street, Cavendish Square, W, to Robert Harrison, Burlington House, W20 February 1912
NLB/45/365Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Sir W [William] W [Watson] Cheyne, Bart, CB, FRS23 February 1912
MC/27/227Letter from [George] Cooper, The Lister Institute of Preventative Medicine, Chelsea Gardens, Chelsea Bridge Road, London, S.W, to The Assistant Secretary, The Royal Society, Burlington House, W28 March 1912
MC/31/68Letter from [William Bate] Hardy, The Royal Society, Burlington House, London, W, to Sir [William] Watson Cheyne, [Royal Society]2 March 1916
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