GB 0809 Scott - SCOTT, Sir Henry Harold (1874-1956)

Identity area

Reference code

GB 0809 Scott

Title

SCOTT, Sir Henry Harold (1874-1956)

Date(s)

  • 1886, 1915-1918 (Creation)

Level of description

Extent and medium

1 box

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

Born, 1874; educated Mercers' and City of London School and University College London; received his clinical training at St Bartholomew's and St Thomas' Hospitals, qualifying MRCS, LRCP in 1897, after which he held the appointments of house-physician at St Thomas' and resident medical officer at Teignmouth, Dawlish and Newton Abbot Infirmary; after taking the London MB in 1900, he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps with the South African Field Force during the early days of the Boer War, there he isolated the diphtheria bacillus from veld sores and has the claim of being the first to discover this infection of the skin; stayed in South Africa until 1902, gaining the Queen's Medal with five clasps.

He entered the Colonial Service and in 1910 accepted the appointment of Government bacteriologist and pathologist in Jamaica, where he developed an interest in tropical medical problems; while there he discovered that vomiting sickness was due to poisoning by unripe ackee fruit which he found to be highly toxic and described the cysts of Entamoeba histolytica.

He took the DPH of the Irish Royal Colleges, with honours, in 1913; during World War One he served as pathologist at the Cambridge Hospital, Aldershot, in charge of a mobile laboratory, with the rank of honorary captain in the RAMC; after demobilization he became Milner Research Fellow in comparative pathology at the London School of Tropical Medicine and obtained DTM&H (Cambridge); went to Hong Kong as Government bacteriologist and pathologist where he did valuable work on tuberculosis among the poorer class Chinese and gained a great knowledge of morbid anatomy; returned to England in 1922 and became pathologist to the Zoological Society of London, here he compared his 300 post-mortem studies of fatal human cases in Hong Kong with similar studies of animals dying of tuberculosis in the Zoological Gardens; results published by the Medical Research Council in 1929 and threw new light on the pathology of the disease; also a lecturer on tropical diseases at the Westminster Board and Liverpool University; medical secretary to the Colonial Medical Research Committee, 1928-1930; elected a member of the Royal College of Physicians of London in 1916, and a fellow in 1925; elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1917; KCMG in 1941; Fellow of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 1911, becoming President 1943-1945; appointed assistant director of the Bureau of Hygiene and Tropical Diseases, 1930, becoming director in 1935, holding the appointment until 1942.

In 1937-38 he delivered the FitzPatrick Lectures before the Royal College of Physicians, discussing the conquest of disease in the Tropics, these lectures formed the basis of his best known work: The History of Tropical Medicine, published in two volumes in 1939.

Archival history

GB 0809 Scott 1886, 1915-1918 Collection (fonds) 1 box Scott , Sir , Henry Harold , 1874-1956 , Knight , physician
Born, 1874; educated Mercers' and City of London School and University College London; received his clinical training at St Bartholomew's and St Thomas' Hospitals, qualifying MRCS, LRCP in 1897, after which he held the appointments of house-physician at St Thomas' and resident medical officer at Teignmouth, Dawlish and Newton Abbot Infirmary; after taking the London MB in 1900, he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps with the South African Field Force during the early days of the Boer War, there he isolated the diphtheria bacillus from veld sores and has the claim of being the first to discover this infection of the skin; stayed in South Africa until 1902, gaining the Queen's Medal with five clasps.

He entered the Colonial Service and in 1910 accepted the appointment of Government bacteriologist and pathologist in Jamaica, where he developed an interest in tropical medical problems; while there he discovered that vomiting sickness was due to poisoning by unripe ackee fruit which he found to be highly toxic and described the cysts of Entamoeba histolytica.

He took the DPH of the Irish Royal Colleges, with honours, in 1913; during World War One he served as pathologist at the Cambridge Hospital, Aldershot, in charge of a mobile laboratory, with the rank of honorary captain in the RAMC; after demobilization he became Milner Research Fellow in comparative pathology at the London School of Tropical Medicine and obtained DTM&H (Cambridge); went to Hong Kong as Government bacteriologist and pathologist where he did valuable work on tuberculosis among the poorer class Chinese and gained a great knowledge of morbid anatomy; returned to England in 1922 and became pathologist to the Zoological Society of London, here he compared his 300 post-mortem studies of fatal human cases in Hong Kong with similar studies of animals dying of tuberculosis in the Zoological Gardens; results published by the Medical Research Council in 1929 and threw new light on the pathology of the disease; also a lecturer on tropical diseases at the Westminster Board and Liverpool University; medical secretary to the Colonial Medical Research Committee, 1928-1930; elected a member of the Royal College of Physicians of London in 1916, and a fellow in 1925; elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1917; KCMG in 1941; Fellow of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 1911, becoming President 1943-1945; appointed assistant director of the Bureau of Hygiene and Tropical Diseases, 1930, becoming director in 1935, holding the appointment until 1942.

In 1937-38 he delivered the FitzPatrick Lectures before the Royal College of Physicians, discussing the conquest of disease in the Tropics, these lectures formed the basis of his best known work: The History of Tropical Medicine, published in two volumes in 1939.

Unknown

Correspondence, publications, press cuttings and reports relating to vomiting sickness and ackee poisoning, 1886-1918.

Arranged into three series as outlined above in Scope and Content.

This collection is open for consultation. Please contact the Archivist to arrange an appointment. All researchers must complete and sign a user registration form which signifies their agreement to abide by the archive rules. All researchers are required to provide proof of identity bearing your signature (for example, a passport or debit card) when registering. Please see website for further information at www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives.

Photocopies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Archivist.
English

Compiled by Victoria Killick, LSHTM Archivist. Sources: Obituary in the British Medical Journal, 18/8/1953; History of the School of Tropical Medicine in London (1899-1949) by Sir Philip Manson-Bahr, 1956, H K Lewis & Co Ltd, London. Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997. August 2004 Actinomycetales infections Diseases Pathology Scott , Sir , Henry Harold , 1874-1956 , Knight , physician Toxicology Tropical diseases Tuberculosis

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Unknown

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Correspondence, publications, press cuttings and reports relating to vomiting sickness and ackee poisoning, 1886-1918.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Arranged into three series as outlined above in Scope and Content.

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

This collection is open for consultation. Please contact the Archivist to arrange an appointment. All researchers must complete and sign a user registration form which signifies their agreement to abide by the archive rules. All researchers are required to provide proof of identity bearing your signature (for example, a passport or debit card) when registering. Please see website for further information at www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives.

Conditions governing reproduction

Photocopies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Archivist.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

  • Latin

Language and script notes

English

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Publication note

Notes area

Note

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Rules and/or conventions used

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

    Sources

    Accession area