Sir William Henry Willcox: observations on beri-beri, scurvy, etc

During the First World War, William Henry Willcox, MD, FRCP, was a consulting physician to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. The etiology of beri-beri was at that time unconfirmed, and Wilcox and his colleagues oberved the cases which occured among British and Indian troops in the Dardanelles and Mesopotamia, establishing that a deficient diet is the most important factor. Cases of scurvy were also observed, and these reports discuss differential diagnosis. Wilcox wrote the sections on scurvy and beri-beri for the Official History of the War, and was appointed CMG in 1916, CB in 1917 and KCIE in 1921. Further biographical details can be found in the Dictionary of National Biography.

The provenance of some of the material listed here is not clear. Original reports and correspondence can be assumed to have been kept by Sir William and passed to his son, but the letter of deposit to the Nutrition Institute explains that Dr Wilcox had 'obtained photostats of doucments that you have already seen', which may have been material at the Public Record Office. Those items listed as 'copies' appear to be fairly modern typescript copies. Dr Wilcox had arranged the material in chronological order, apart from the case notes (GC/185/21) and printed reports (GC/185/22-23), which he had placed at the end of his list. These have now been listed in the chronological sequence, as they would have come to Willcox's attention.