Surgeon, Scientist, Soldier – The life and times of Henry Wade 1876-1955.

Henry Wade is an apotheosis in British Surgery, becoming a famous and accomplished technical surgeon who followed Lister's footsteps, a renowned clinical scientist, teacher, a war hero and philanthropist. “Surgeon, Scientist, Soldier” by Dugald Gardner charts the key events of Henry Wade's life and outlines the background and experiences that shaped the development of this remarkable man. Born in 1876 as a “son of the Manse”, Wade followed his older brother to the new Edinburgh Medical School, where he graduated with honours in 1898. His early progress in Hospital practice was halted by the outbreak of the Boer War. Wade enlisted and was dispatched to South Africa in 1900. There, he encountered unfamiliar infectious or parasitic diseases, unfit, often malnourished British forces which caused high level “non-battle” causalties. Compounding these difficulties were the battlefield injuries caused by new high velocity projectiles. In these formative experiences, Wade accomplished individual acts of heroism and learned important principles of management of military wounds. The account of this turbulent period is brought remarkably to life by the high quality photographs of military detail, hospitals, staff, the immense machinery of the British War effort. A very youthful Wade is engaged in surgical duties. On his return to Edinburgh, Wade was sponsored by Sir William Turner and Mr FM Caird, to take examinations for the Fellowship of the Royal College. He became Clinical Tutor at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE). Wade's epoch was one of colossal scientific discovery, with advances in X-ray diagnosis, anaesthesia, antisepsis, blood transfusion and resuscitation which rapidly expanded the success and range of clinical surgery. The number of operations increased fourfold between 1878 and 1907 at RIE, involving orthopaedic, abdominal, breast and neurosurgery. Appointments to Leith and RIE followed. A meeting with Dr William Ford Robertson in 1903 stimulated Wade's curiosity about the nature and causes of cancer, then confounded by traditional theories of interplay of body “humours”. Wade's experiments addressed a prescient theme of an infective, transmissible element implicated in the pathobiology of some tumours. Within a remarkably short time, he conducted pioneering work that showed that tissue lysates inoculated between experimental animals could promote development of “alveolar sarcomas.” He concluded that this form of sarcoma was attributable to a transmissible infective cause, most probably a contagious intracellular virus. This work predated that of Peyton Rous, who discovered that a malignant chicken sarcoma was transmissible by a filterable virus, for which he (Rous) was later awarded the Nobel prize. By 1914, Henry Wade was an experienced Assistant Surgeon to Leith and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, was Conservator of the College museum and had an outstanding reputation. The outbreak of the Great War led to Wade's reinstatement in the military and he was appointed Captain to the Scottish Horse Mounted Brigade. His experiences in the Dardanelles, Egypt and Syria campaigns is supported by extensive photographic records of military detail, naval and land armaments, engineering feats and field hospitals to provide an important historical document. After the War, Wade returned to his position at RIE providing many years of service, innovation in urology, teaching and college duties. He married in 1924 was appointed to the Presidency of the Royal College in 1935 and was instrumental in the development of the new National Health Service. He published important manuscripts on urological surgery. He was knighted in 1946 and died in 1955. As a steward of the manifold of Surgery, Henry Wade left a legacy of service, dedication, research and teaching that is commemorated by the Sir Henry Wade Professorship, at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Dugald Gardner's biography is painstaking and draws on Wade's own accounts, letters to understand his life, times, and work. Many photographs, paintings, sketches and drawings have been tracked down, to illustrate the great achievements of this many-sided creative Surgeon. Highly recommended.