Henry Theodore Dreschfeld

Henry was born in the summer of 1866 at Chorlton, to Leopold Dreschfeld, a well known Manchester physician and brother of Julius Dreschfeld who was Professor of Pathology at Owens College.

Educated at Manchester Grammar School Henry gained a scholarship which took him to Tettenhall College. He was interested in boxing and a few years before his death presented Manchester Grammar School with a trophy for an annual competition. Henry entered the Faculty of Medicine of Owen’s College in 1885 qualifying in 1893 with a License in Dental Surgery (L.D.S). He was Rubgy Football captain and secretary of the Athletic Union.

In 1895 Henry married Jessie Mindele Frankenburg, the daughter of Alderman Isidor Frankenburg, who was a Justice of the Peace.

Henry was appointed as a lecturer in Dental Surgery and as a Consulting Surgeon at The Manchester Dental Hospital. In the British Medical Journal of January 1894 he wrote a case study about a man with dental problems that were the result of a fall over 20 years earlier. At The Sanitary Congress in 1902 he presented a paper on Dental Diseases and their Relation to Public Health in which he outlined that industrial workers often had poor dental hygiene and tooth extractions that were not always done by professionals. He argued that education of the young in the use of toothbrushes and wooden toothpicks and visits by dentists to schools were key to making improvements in dental health. In 1907, at the annual conference of the British Dental Association in Cardiff, he presented a paper in which he compared the chemical make up of some common tooth fillings and his experiences in using them. At the same conference in Belfast in 1908 he gave a demonstration about preparation of cavities, mixing cements, how to fill teeth, and the use of combination fillings followed by a series of experiments of different cements under mouth conditions.

Henry was involved with a number of public bodies. He was the founder of the Jewish Lads’ Club, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Jewish Lads’ Brigade, served on the Committee of the Jewish Board of Guardians for over 20 years, and was President of the Jewish Operatic Society. He was also Governor of the Salford Royal Technical Institute and when giving out certificates at their presentation evening in December 1910 he spoke of his own school and college associates many of whom had died in their prime or had failed to fulfil their early promise. He went on to give the students practical advice on the folly of betting and stock exchange gambling. He had two sons at North Manchester School and took a great interest in the School and it’s sporting activities.

In 1895 he joined the 8th (Ardwick) Battalion of the Manchester Regiment, a territorial unit and in 1896 wrote a Handbook of musketry for the use of volunteers. When war came in 1914 he was given a captaincy in the 13th Battalion Manchester Regiment, a service battalion of Kitchener volunteers. In November 1914 the battalion moved to Eastbourne for training where Henry died following an operation for appendicitis. At his funeral officers of the Jewish Lads’ Brigade acted as pall-bearers. The magazine of Manchester Grammar School on writing of his death described him as “a highly gifted man who, to the qualities of geniality, good nature, and keen humour, added indomitable will and energy”. He left effects worth £1145 to his wife.