Harold Wordsworth Barber
English dermatologist
Harold Wordsworth Barber (1887–1955) was an English dermatologist.
Education and career
After education at Repton, Harold Wordsworth Barber matriculated at Clare College, Cambridge and graduated there in natural sciences in 1908. After medical education at Guy's Hospital, he graduated in 1911 BCh and in 1912 MB from the University of Cambridge. For the academic year 1912–1913, supported by an Arthur Durham Travelling Fellowship, he studied dermatology for most of a year in Paris under Darier at Hôpital Saint-Louis and then briefly studied in Hamburg under Unna.
From 1913 to 1915 Barber was a medical registrar at Guy's Hospital and qualified MRCP in 1914. In 1915 he joined the RAMC and during WWI served in India, Mesopotamia, German East Africa, and France. He returned in 1919 to Guy's Hospital as medical registrar and later in that year was appointed physician-in-charge of the department for skin diseases. He was a consulting dermatologist to the Royal Navy. He remained on the active staff of St Guy's Hospital until 1951 when he became a consulting physician to the hospital's department of dermatology. He wrote the section on skin diseases in the 12th edition of Taylor's Practice of Medicine (1922), edited by E. P. Poulton.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Harold Wordsworth Barber” is english dermatologist. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Harold, Wordsworth and Barber, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “english dermatologist” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q55809250. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1887, 1955, 1908 and 1911.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Harold Wordsworth Barber”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Harold Wordsworth Barber primary sources, Harold Wordsworth Barber archive and Harold research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Harold Wordsworth Barber”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Harold Wordsworth Barber” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.