The pre-war years (1911–14) and the Royal Society of Medicine’s attempt to absorb the STMH

It was now over four years since the Society had been founded, and the first two presidents had arguably been the most widely known of the pioneers of this nascent ‘colonial’ discipline. To follow these two colourful individuals must have been a somewhat daunting task; nevertheless, Lt Col Sir William Leishman ¹ (see Figure 4.1), although only 46, assumed this mantel admirably. His major work which had demonstrated (jointly) the causative agent of Kala-azar had been published in 1903 ² , although he had made the discovery at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley in 1900. The other president during those years in the run-up to the Great War (1914–18) was Maj. Gen. Sir Richard Havelock Charles Bt (see below). The Society’s calendar was now well established: Council meetings being followed by Ordinary ones, and the Annual General Meeting taking place every June (see Appendix I).