Berkeley Moynihan - early transfusionist and blood transfusion recipient

Lord Sir Berkeley Moynihan (1865-1936) was a surgeon at the General Infirmary in Leeds (Yorkshire) from 1893, rising during his career to be one of the foremost surgeons in the UK whose reputation reached its pinnacle at the outbreak of the First World War (WW1). He was the only surgeon after Lister to be made a Baronet. In a letter to The Lancet in 1918, he claimed to have used blood transfusion on some of his patients during the 10-year period prior to that date. If true, this statement would make him the first surgeon in England to routinely use transfusion prior to WW1. This review investigates this claim using currently available evidence from Moynihan's personal records and publications, as well as published information from his colleagues.