A celebrated pathologist
Cased KBE (Military) & Breast Star, with miniature KBE
Miniature Territorial Decoration.
Condition Near Mint in leather case of issue.
The group was acquired from Woodhead's family by the vendor, who has consigned it for sale.
| Estimate: | £800 - £1,000 |
| Hammer price: | £950 |
German Sims Wood was born on the 26th of April 1855 in Huddersfield. His father was Joseph Woodhead, a Liberal Politician and Newspaper owner.
A highly intelligent man, he studied medicine at Edinburgh University, where he was very active in sports and won many prizes for chemistry and surgery. He was a member of the Territorial Royal Army Medical Corps while at university and remained a member for the rest of his life.
During his undergraduate studies, his future career was shaped by his position as assistant to Professor Lord Lister. Lister worked to improve antiseptics and surgical dressings.
His postgraduate studies took place in Berlin under Professor Kock, a prominent Pathologist. He worked as a Pathologist at the Royal Children's Hospital in Edinburgh and physician at the Western Dispensary. Positions he held until 1899, when he became chair of Pathology at Cambridge University.
Despite being 58 years of age when the Great War broke out, he volunteered for service. His work focused on the creation of better battlefields, field dressing stations and hospital practices for treating the wounded.
He was later based at the Irish Command Depot at Tipperary, where he oversaw the benefits of open-air hospitals. Perhaps his greatest achievement was his invention of a method for applying the process of purifying water by chlorination to the water supplies for the troops in the field. For his service, he was awarded the K.B.E in 1919.
Sir Woodward passed away in 1921; it is believed the war years took a tremendous toll on his health.
