Watson Cheyne Sir William Watson Cheyne , 1st Baronet KCMG CB FRCS FRS ( 14 December 1852 – 19 April 1932 ) was a British surgeon and bacteriologist , who pioneered the use of antiseptical surgical methods in the United Kingdom , as well as abdominal surgery . Cheyne was born at sea off Hobart , Tasmania . His father , Andrew Cheyne , was the eldest of two illegitimate children born to James Cheyne , brother to the Laird of Tangwick , John Cheyne . He grew up at the haaf fishing station at Stenness and went to sea around the age of twelve rising to command a brig in the far East at the age of 22 . His mother Eliza , the daughter of the Rev . William Watson , died in 1856 , leaving Willam Cheyne to be brought up by his grandfather , the Rev . William Watson , and latterly by his aunt and uncle - in - law , in Fetlar . In 1864 he was sent to attend Aberdeen Grammar School until 1868 , when he went to King ' s College , Aberdeen , studying Greek , Latin , English , and Mathematics . By 1870 his uncle and aunt had desired him to be trained for the church , but as his father , his own inclination was for the sea . With the idea that if he became a doctor he could join the navy , he entered the University of Edinburgh where to study medicine in May 1871 . He received degrees in surgery and medicine from there in 1875 . Cheyne became the house surgeon to Joseph Lister , the British founder of antiseptic medicine , in 1876 . Bacteriology had been much researched in France and Germany in the 1870s and 80s , but little work was done in the field in Britain . Lister was one of the few pioneers of its study in Britain . In 1877 , the two took positions at King ' s College Hospital , where Cheyne served as an assistant surgeon , and later as surgeon from 1880 to 1917 and also as a professor of surgery from 1891 to 1917 . He was a devoted follower of Lister and his antiseptic surgical methods . Cheyne was greatly inspired by the work of German bacteriologist Robert Koch , and had his work " Untersuchungen über die Aetiologie der Wundinfenktionskrankheiten " ( 1878 ) translated for the New Sydenham Society in 1880 , which greatly enhanced the acceptance of bacteriology in Britain . He had a work published in 1882 , " Antiseptic Surgery : Its Principles , Practice , History and Results " , and later in 1885 a book , " Lister and His Achievements " . The work he did in his early career on bacteria and preventative medicine was highly influenced by Koch , and in Spring 1886 , Cheyne visited Koch ' s laboratory in Berlin and studied his methods . He undertook many trials on giving doses of tuberculin . He reported his findings to the RMCS in April 1891 . He found that giving repeated doses improves the conditions of patients , but rarely acts as a cure . His paper was recognized as the first important contribution to the topic in France . He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1894 . Cheyne served as a consulting surgeon for the British military in South Africa from 1900 to 1901 . In 1910 he was made the Honorary Surgeon - in - Ordinary to King George V . With the outbreak of world War I he became a consulting surgeon to the Royal Navy in 1914 , and in 1915 was for a short time the temporary surgeon general , RN . He was later made Surgeon Rear - Admiral and KCMG . From 1914 to 1916 , he served as President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England , and in 1924 he was awarded the inaugural Lister Medal for his contributions to surgical science . The following year , he delivered the first Lister Memorial Lecture . He was made a baronet in 1905 , and having retired from active practice , he was elected in 1913 as a Unionist Member of Parliament ( MP ) for Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities and for the Combined Scottish Universities in 1918 , holding the seat until he stepped down at the 1922 general election . He was appointed as Lord Lieutenant of Orkney and Shetland in 1919 . Cheyne left London for good in 1922 and retired to Fetlar and resigned his position as lord lieutenant in 1930 . He died in 1932 at Fetlar after a prolonged illness .