{{Short description|English pathologist (1855–1921)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} {{Use British English|date=March 2017}} thumb|German Sims Woodhead Lt.-Col. and Bt. Col. '''Sir German Sims Woodhead''', {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|KBE|FRSE|FRCPE||sep=,|size=100%}} (29 April 1855 – 29 December 1921) was an English pathologist.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1002/path.1700250114| title = German Sims Woodhead. K.B.E., M.D., LL.D. Born April 29th, 1855-Died December 29th, 1921| journal = The Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology| volume = 25|page=118| year = 1922| last1 = Ritchie | first1 = J. | last2 = Boycott | first2 = A. E.| last3 = Dean | first3 = H. R.| url = https://zenodo.org/record/1427750}}</ref><ref>{{acad|id=WDHT899GS|name=Woodhead, German Sims}}</ref>
== Life == He was born at Woodland Mount, a large country house near Huddersfield, on 29 April 1855 the son of Joseph Woodhead, a newspaper owner (and later politician), and his wife Catherine Woodhead.
He was educated at Huddersfield College.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sir German Sims Woodhead, K.B.E.|last=Woodhead|first=Harriett|publisher=Oliver and Boyd, Tweeddale Court|year=1923|location=Edinburgh|pages=2}}</ref> He then studied medicine at Edinburgh University, graduating MB ChB in 1878.
From 1885 to 1890 he worked as a lab assistant in Edinburgh University, living then at 6 Marchhall Crescent.<ref>Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1890</ref> During his time in Edinburgh, in 1886, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Sir William Turner, Alexander Crum Brown, Robert Gray and Sir John Murray.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=978-0-902198-84-5|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=11 September 2019|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 1890, aged only 35, he became director of the Conjoint Laboratories of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and of Surgeons in London.
In 1899 he was made professor of pathology in Cambridge University.<ref>{{cite magazine|year=1907|title=WOODHEAD, German Sims|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yEcuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1929|magazine=Who's Who|volume=59|page=1929}}</ref> He was the first editor of the ''Journal of Pathology''.
In the First World War he was the inspector of government laboratories serving all military hospitals. He was attached to the RAMC at the rank of lieurenant colonel. Largely as a result of this service, he was knighted (KBE) by King George V in 1919, as part of the Birthday Honours.<ref>{{Edinburgh Gazette|issue=13462|date=13 June 1919}}</ref>
He died at Aisthorpe Hall in Lincolnshire<ref>BMJ obituary 7 January 1922</ref> on 29 December 1921 and is buried in Cambridge City Cemetery.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sir German Sims Woodhead (1855-1921) - Find A...|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/34918737/german-sims-woodhead|access-date=2021-09-08|website=www.findagrave.com|language=en}}</ref>
==Family== In 1881, he married Harriet Elizabeth St Clair Erskine Yates.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=11 September 2019|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Published work == *''Practical Pathology'' (1883) *''Pathological Mycology'' (1885), with A. W. Hare *''Bacteria and Their Products'' (1891) *''Report to the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis'' (1895)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{wikisource|works=or}} * {{Gutenberg author |id=34210}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=German Sims Woodhead}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120205195249/http://www.path.cam.ac.uk/about/history.html Sir German Sims Woodhead] *Michael Worboys, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/57360 'Woodhead, Sir German Sims (1855–1921)'], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004 *{{NIE|title=Wood'head, German Sims (1844–)}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodhead, German Sims}} Category:English pathologists Category:English medical writers Category:English tax resisters Category:1855 births Category:1921 deaths Category:People educated at Huddersfield New College Category:Medical doctors from Yorkshire Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Medical School Category:Fellows of the Royal Microscopical Society Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
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