Philip Manson-Bahr

Sir Philip Henry Manson-Bahr (born Philip Heinrich Bahr; 26 November 1881 – 19 November 1966) was an English zoologist and physician known for his contributions to tropical medicine. He changed his birth name to Manson-Bahr after marrying Edith Margaret Manson, daughter of the doyen of tropical medicine Sir Patrick Manson. Following his father-in-law, he devoted much of his career to tropical medicine. He was a Consulting Physician and held high offices at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and at the London Hospital. He was knighted in 1941.

Early life and education

Manson-Bahr was born at Wavertree, Liverpool, to Louis Friedrich Bahr and Emily Louisa Blessig. He had two sisters, Caroline Louisa Sophia Bahr, who was a one-year senior, and Sophie Catharine Bahr, six years his junior. Originally from the Province of Hanover, Germany, his father moved to Liverpool as a business partner of Anthony & Bernard Schroeder & Co, merchants and brokers. His father eventually became a Vice-Consul for German Empire at Liverpool in 1874, a naturalised British citizen in 1877, and German Consul during 1883-1906. His family lived in a house called Rockville.

Manson-Bahr began his schooling at the Queenbank Preparatory School in Liverpool and continued at Rugby School in Warwickshire. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge and studied the Natural Sciences Tripos, with zoology as his main course. Professor Alfred Newton became a major influence on his lifelong interest in ornithology. He was enrolled in the British Ornithologists' Union in 1904. He took up undergraduate medical training at the London Hospital, earning his degree in 1907. In 1908, he qualified the full MB BChir degree from Cambridge University. But he correctly identified it as a pathogenic yeast Molinia candida (now Candida albicans).

At the outbreak of World War I, Manson-Bahr joined the British Army as Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps.

Manson's Tropical Diseases and change of name

Manson-Bahr edited Manson's Tropical Diseases from the seventh edition in 1921 through 15th edition in 1960. (Originally titled Tropical Diseases: A Manual of Diseases of Warm Climate, a standard textbook in tropical medicine, it is still in print, and as of 2014, running its 23rd edition.) It was from this contribution that he was asked by Sir Patrick Manson to change his name. Mary Manson-Bahr (b. 1921)

After the death of Edith Margaret, Manson-Bahr married Edith Mary Grossmith in 1950.