William Hepburn Russell Lumsden was born in Forfar, Angus, on 27 March 1914 . His father, William Lumsden, was a doctor and the Schools' Medical Officer for Durham County. Prior to attending university, William was a student at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Darlington. William attended the University of Glasgow as a Carnegie scholar from 1931-1938 . After taking classes in Anatomy and Zoology in his first year; Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and Botany in his second; Zoology (Double), Anatomy and Physiology in his third year, and Zoology (Honours) in his fourth year, William then studied medicine for the remainder of his time at University. He was awarded a first class certificate in Zoology in 1932, a second class certificate in Practice Anatomy in 1934, a first class certificate in Practical Pathology in 1936 and fifth prize for Clinical Medicine (Juniors) in 1937. He graduated with a first class honours BSc in Zoology in June 1935 and an MBChB in November 1938 .
He was subsequently awarded a Medical Research Council Research Fellowship at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine , where he gained his Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 1939. In 1941, he enlisted with the Royal Army Medical Corps as an entomologist and malariologist, joining the staff of No 3 Malaria Field Laboratory. He saw active service in Palestine, Transjordan, North Africa, Italy, India and Sicily, later becoming the unit's commanding officer. In 1946, he was awarded a Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellowship in Medical Entomology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine , and in 1947 he took up a post at the East African Virus Research Institute in Entebbe, Uganda, where he researched yellow fever for the following ten years. In 1957 he was appointed Director of the East African Trypanosomiasis Research Organisation in Tororo, Uganda, but when Uganda gained its independence in 1963, he returned to Edinburgh and took up a Lectureship in the Department of Bacteriology at the University of Edinburgh . In 1968 he was appointed Chair of Medical Protozoology at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine , a position which he held until his retirement in 1979.
He was awarded a DSc in December 1956 and an MD in November 1975 by the University of Glasgow for his dissertations: Ecological studies, mainly on the mechanisms of transmission and maintenance of parasitic organisms and Studies on Trypanosoma and Trichomonas and their bearing upon concepts of infection by pathogenic protozoa . His publications include Anophelism and Malaria in Transjordan and in the Neighbouring Parts of Palestine and Syria (1950) with J Yofe, Crepuscular Biting Activity of Insects in the Forest Canopy, Bwamba, Uganda in Bulletin of Entomological Research (1951), Probable Vectors of Yellow Fever from Monkey to Man in Bwamba in Bulletin of Entomological Research (1951), Epidemiology of Yellow Fever in West Nile District, Uganda in Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (1951), Epidemic of Virus Distribution in Southern Province, Tanganyika in 1952-3 in Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (1955), Demonstration of Antibodies to Protozoa in Handbook of Experimental Immunology (1967), Techniques with Trypanosomes (1973), Biology of the Kinetoplastida (1976) and Advances in Parasitology (1982). He died in Edinburgh on 13 May 2002 .
From the guide to the Papers of William Hepburn Russell Lumsden, 1914-2002, zoology graduate, University of Glasgow, and Professor of Medical Protozoology, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, 1933-1987, (Glasgow University Archive Services)
