Watson Cheyne

Sir William Watson Cheyne, 1st Baronet KCMG CB FRCS FRS (14 December 1852 – 19 April 1932) was a British surgeon and bacteriologist, who pioneered the use of antiseptical surgical methods in the United Kingdom, as well as abdominal surgery.

Cheyne was born at sea off Hobart, Tasmania. His father, Andrew Cheyne, was the eldest of two illegitimate children born to James Cheyne, brother to the Laird of Tangwick, John Cheyne. He grew up at the haaf fishing station at Stenness and went to sea around the age of twelve rising to command a brig in the far East at the age of 22. His mother Eliza, the daughter of the Rev. William Watson, died in 1856, leaving Willam Cheyne to be brought up by his grandfather, the Rev. William Watson, and latterly by his aunt and uncle-in-law, in Fetlar. In 1864 he was sent to attend Aberdeen Grammar School until 1868, when he went to King's College, Aberdeen, studying Greek, Latin, English, and Mathematics. By 1870 his uncle and aunt had desired him to be trained for the church, but as his father, his own inclination was for the sea. With the idea that if he became a doctor he could join the navy, he entered the University of Edinburgh where to study medicine in May 1871. He received degrees in surgery and medicine from there in 1875.

Cheyne became the house surgeon to Joseph Lister, the British founder of antiseptic medicine, in 1876. Bacteriology had been much researched in France and Germany in the 1870s and 80s, but little work was done in the field in Britain. Lister was one of the few pioneers of its study in Britain. In 1877, the two took positions at King's College Hospital, where Cheyne served as an assistant surgeon, and later as surgeon from 1880 to 1917 and also as a professor of surgery from 1891 to 1917. He was a devoted follower of Lister and his antiseptic surgical methods. Cheyne was greatly inspired by the work of German bacteriologist Robert Koch, and had his work Untersuchungen über die Aetiologie der Wundinfenktionskrankheiten (1878) translated for the New Sydenham Society in 1880, which greatly enhanced the acceptance of bacteriology in Britain. He had a work published in 1882, Antiseptic Surgery: Its Principles, Practice, History and Results, and later in 1885 a book, Lister and His Achievements. The work he did in his early career on bacteria and preventative medicine was highly influenced by Koch, and in Spring 1886, Cheyne visited Koch's laboratory in Berlin and studied his methods. He undertook many trials on giving doses of tuberculin. He reported his findings to the RMCS in April 1891. He found that giving repeated doses improves the conditions of patients, but rarely acts as a cure. His paper was recognized as the first important contribution to the topic in France. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1894.

Cheyne served as a consulting surgeon for the British military in South Africa from 1900 to 1901. In 1910 he was made the Honorary Surgeon-in-Ordinary to King George V. With the outbreak of world War I he became a consulting surgeon to the Royal Navy in 1914, and in 1915 was for a short time the temporary surgeon general, RN. He was later made Surgeon Rear-Admiral and KCMG. From 1914 to 1916, he served as President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and in 1924 he was awarded the inaugural Lister Medal for his contributions to surgical science. The following year, he delivered the first Lister Memorial Lecture.

He was made a baronet in 1905, and having retired from active practice, he was elected in 1913 as a Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities and for the Combined Scottish Universities in 1918, holding the seat until he stepped down at the 1922 general election. He was appointed as Lord Lieutenant of Orkney and Shetland in 1919. Cheyne left London for good in 1922 and retired to Fetlar and resigned his position as lord lieutenant in 1930. He died in 1932 at Fetlar after a prolonged illness.

Works

 * Antiseptic Surgery: Its Principles, Practice, History and Results (1882)
 * Lister and His Achievements (1885)
 * Manual of the Antiseptic Treatment of Wounds (1885)
 * Manual of Surgical Treatment, 7 vol. (1899–1903; with F. Burghard)