Sir Edward Charles Dodds, 1st Baronet (13 October 1899 – 16 December 1973) was a British biochemist.

Personal life

He was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in 1899, the only child of Ralph Edward Dodds, a shoe retailer, and Jane (née Pack) Dodds. The family shortly moved to

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, then to

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

and then to Chesham, Bucks, where he attended Harrow County School. From there he entered the

Middlesex Hospital Medical School Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, England. First opened as the Middlesex Infirmary in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally clo ...

in London in 1916, spent one year in the army in 1917, and qualified MRCS and LRCP in 1921. He died at Sussex Square in

Paddington, London Paddington is an List of areas of London, area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a Metropolitan Borough of Paddington, metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster ...

on 16 December 1973.

Career

In 1924 he was appointed to the new Chair of Biochemistry at the University of London which was started in the Bland Sutton Institute of Pathology at the Middlesex. Three years later, he was appointed Director of the recently completed Courtauld Institute of Biochemistry and retained these two appointments until his retirement forty years later. His scientific interests were wide and varied; he had a continuing interest in the problem of cancer and of research into its causation, and was an authority on food and diet and also devoted time and energy to the problems of rheumatism. He provided facilities and gave advice and encouragement to younger colleagues in such work as immunopathology, steroid chemistry, cytochemistry and the work which led to the discovery of Aldosterone.

Awards and honours

He was appointed a Member (fourth class) of the Royal Victorian Order in the

1929 Birthday Honours The King's Birthday Honours 1929 were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by members of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King. The ...

. In 1940, Dodds received the

Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh The Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh is awarded by the University of Edinburgh College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine to a person who has made any highly important and v ...

. The next year, 1941, he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were

Francis Albert Eley Crew Francis Albert Eley Crew (2 March 1886 – 26 May 1973) was an English animal geneticist. He was a pioneer in his field leading to the University of Edinburgh’s place as a world leader in the science of animal genetics. He was the first Dire ...

Alan William Greenwood Alan William Greenwood Order of the British Empire, CBE FRSE (29 June 1897 – 4 May 1981) was an Australian zoologist and geneticist, who helped pave the way to creating Dolly (sheep), Dolly the Sheep. He served as director of the Roslin In ...

, James Kendall and Guy Frederic Marrian. In 1942 he was elected to

Fellowship of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

and subsequently served as Vice-President. He served the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of ph ...

for some years as Harveian Librarian and in 1962 was elected President, the first to hold the office who was laboratory based and not engaged in clinical practice. During his term of office as President he was invested as a knight into the

Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic Church, Catholic Military order (religious society), military order. It was founded in the Crusader states, crusader K ...

(KStJ). He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in 1954, and created 1st Baronet Dodds of

West Chiltington West Chiltington is a village and civil parish in the Horsham (district), Horsham district of West Sussex, England. It lies on the Storrington to Broadford Bridge road, 2.6 miles (4.2 km) north of Storrington. The parish covers an area of 1 ...

in the

County of Sussex Sussex ( /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom and, later, a county. It includes the ceremonial counties of East Sussex and We ...

on 10 February 1964.

Publications

He co-authored a number of books such as ''The Laboratory in Surgical practice'', ''Chemical and Physiological Properties of Medicine'' and ''Recent Advances in British Medicine''.

Family

In 1923 he married Constance Elizabeth Jordan (d. 1969) of Darlington. They had one son, Sir Ralph Jordan Dodds, who succeeded to the baronetcy on Charles' death in 1973.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodds, Edward Charles 1899 births 1973 deaths Medical doctors from Liverpool Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Lieutenants of the Royal Victorian Order British biochemists Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians Knights Bachelor Physicians of the Middlesex Hospital People from West Chiltington