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William Henry Allchin was born in Paris, on 16 October 1846, the eldest son of a Bayswater doctor. After a private education Allchin studied medicine at University College, London. He qualified in 1869 and served as medical officer of the Great Eastern. In 1871 he graduated MB, with the University Scholarship.
He joined in succession the staff of the Western Dispensary, the St Marylebone Dispensary, and the Victoria Hospital for Children. Simultaneously he lectured on comparative anatomy at University College. In 1872 he was appointed registrar and demonstrator of practical physiology at the Westminster Hospital. He was elected assistant physician there in 1873, and physician in 1877. He lectured on pathology, 1873-78, physiology, 1878-82, and medicine, 1882-92. He also held the office of Dean from 1878-83, and 1890-93. His work at the Hospital led to the publication of his papers on Functional Disease' andVital Diagnosis', in the Westminster Hospital Reports (vol. II, 1886, pp.35-52 & vol. IV, 1888, pp.105-19, respectively).
It is said that he was `highly successful both as an administrator and as a clinical teacher of the deductive type' (Munk's Roll, vol. IV, p.254). Allchin made literary contributions to Sir Richard Quain's A Dictionary of Medicine (1882-94) and Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt's A System of Medicine by Many Authors (1896-99).
Allchin was closely connected with the Royal College of Physicians throughout his professional career, He was appointed to the new office of Assistant Registrar in 1883, but felt obliged to resign after two years due to his opposition to the College's policy of applying to the Crown for permission to grant medical degrees. He delivered the Bradshaw Lecture in 1891, the Harveian Oration in 1903, and the Lumleian Lectures in 1905. Allchin was much interested in the move to reconstitute London University. He was secretary of the Royal College of Physicians' University Committee, between 1889 and 1898, and one of its representatives to the new Senate, later compiling An Account of the Reconstruction of the University of London (3 vols.) (London, 1905-12). He was also a member of the Medical Consultative Board to the Admiralty, and an examiner for the Army and Navy Medical Departments and the Indian Medical Service.
He was the editor of A Manual of Medicine (London, 1900-3), which became well known. Allchin retired from the staff of the Westminster Hospital in 1905. In 1907 he received his knighthood, and three years later was appointed physician extraordinary to George V.
Allchin married Margaret Holland in 1880. He died at his country home in East Malling, Kent, on 8 February 1912.
Publications:
The Morbid Anatomy of Some of the Most Important Parts of the Human Body; Prefixed Preliminary Observations on Diseased Structures by J. Wardrop, Matthew Baillie (1761-1823), Sir William Henry Allchin, George I. Fincham, & James Wardrop (London, 1833)
Medicine in its Economic Relations (London, 1876?)
Functional Disease', Westminster Hospital Reports, vol. II, 1886, pp.35-52 Vital Diagnosis', Westminster Hospital Reports, vol. IV, 1888, pp.105-19
Scheme for Case Reporting (London, 1887)
The Nature and Causes of Duodenal Indigestion (London, 1892)
A Manual of Medicine, Sir William Henry Allchin (ed.) (London, 1900-3)
Structure and Function (London, 1903)
An Account of the Reconstruction of the University of London (3 vols.) (London, 1905-12)