Henry Head
Sir Henry Head (1861-1940) was an English neurologist.
Sir Henry Head was a pioneering British neurologist whose expansive contributions to sensory physiology and clinical neurology reshaped early 20th-century understandings of the nervous system. Celebrated for his precision and innovation, Head combined academic rigor with a personal commitment to clinical observation, exemplified in his famous self-experimentation studies. His research redefined concepts of dermatomal mapping, pain perception, peripheral nerve injury, and language disorders. An exceptional teacher, poet, and scholar of wide cultural interests, Head was as influential in literary circles as he was in medical science.
Born into a Quaker family in Stoke Newington, London, on August 4, 1861, Head was the eldest of eleven children. His father, an insurance broker at Lloyd’s, and his mother, Hester Beck, later converted to Anglicanism. Head was educated at Grove House School, Charterhouse, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied natural sciences under Foster, Langley, and Gaskell. He also studied in Halle and Prague with Ewald Hering, where he conducted early research on respiratory reflexes. Head devised methods of recording respiratory movements and introduced the cuffed endotracheal tube. His pioneering treatise On the Regulation of Respiration (1886) addressed vagal control of breathing.
He returned to Cambridge to complete medical studies and qualified in 1890 at University College Hospital. His clinical experiences at Queen Square under Thomas Buzzard and at Victoria Park Hospital stimulated interests in sensory neurology. His Cambridge MD thesis, later published in Brain (1893), introduced “Head’s zones” and explored the visceral-somatic sensory nexus. The 1900 collaboration with AW Campbell on herpes zoster delineated dermatomal pathology. In 1903, he underwent radial nerve sectioning to investigate sensory recovery, collaborating with WHR Rivers and James Sherren.
Head served as physician at the London Hospital from 1896, contributed prolifically to Brain, which he edited from 1910–1925, and was elected FRS in 1899. He co-developed theories of protopathic and epicritic systems and distinguished deep from cutaneous sensibility. During World War I, he worked with George Riddoch on spinal cord trauma, influencing war neurology. He also addressed sensory thalamic functions, cortical integration, and symbolic language function in aphasia.
Head married Ruth Mayhew in 1904. They moved to Dorset and later to Hartley Court, Reading. Despite developing Parkinsonism in 1919, he published Aphasia and Kindred Disorders of Speech (1926). He was knighted in 1927 and supported many with his estate and encouragement. He died on October 8, 1940, having borne chronic illness with courage.
Biography
- 1861 – Born August 4 in Stoke Newington, London.
- 1870s – Educated at Grove House School and Charterhouse.
- 1880 – Entered Trinity College, Cambridge; studied natural sciences.
- 1884–1886 – Studied in Prague under Ewald Hering; published On the Regulation of Respiration.
- 1890 – Qualified in medicine at University College Hospital, London.
- 1892 – MD awarded for thesis on visceral pain; published in Brain (1893).
- 1894 – Published definitive study on referred pain in Brain.
- 1896 – Appointed assistant physician at the London Hospital.
- 1900 – Co-authored herpes zoster study with AW Campbell.
- 1901 – Delivered Goulstonian Lectures.
- 1903 – Radial nerve division experiment with Rivers and Sherren.
- 1908 – Published A Human Experiment in Nerve Division.
- 1910-1925 Editor of the journal Brain
- 1911 – Delivered Croonian Lecture on nervous integration.
- 1914–1918 – War studies with George Riddoch at Empire Hospital.
- 1920 – Published Studies in Neurology.
- 1926 – Published Aphasia and Kindred Disorders of Speech.
- 1927 – Knighted; awarded Moxon Medal.
- 1928 – Retired due to Parkinson’s disease.
- 1939 – Death of his wife, Ruth.
- 1940 – Died October 8 in Reading, aged 79.
Historical Context and Associations
Henry Head collaborated with and was influenced by Michael Foster, John Hughlings Jackson (1835-1911), WHR Rivers (1864-1922), James Sherren (1872-1945) and Charles Scott Sherrington (1857 – 1952). He mentored George Riddoch (1888–1947) and was admired by literary contemporaries including Siegfried Sassoon, Thomas Hardy, and Virginia Woolf. His patients included Henry James. Although never appointed to the National Hospital, Queen Square, he maintained productive collaborations with its staff.
Medical Eponyms
Head-Holmes syndrome (1911)
Sensory changes produced by lesions of the cerebral cortex and other parts of the brain.
Described in collaboration with Gordon Holmes (1876-1965), this syndrome results from lesions of the parietal cortex—particularly in the postcentral gyrus—leading to loss or distortion of joint position sense and touch perception on the contralateral side.
Despite intact primary motor function, patients often exhibit sensory inattention, impaired spatial discrimination, and ataxia. Head and Holmes’ 1911 studies emphasized cortical sensory integration and helped differentiate central from peripheral sensory deficits, shaping neurological examination methods for decades. Published as sensory disturbances from cerebral lesions in Brain, 1911
Head-Riddoch syndrome (1917) (autonomic dysreflexia)
Spinal Cord Injury and Riddoch Phenomenon. Collaborating with George Riddoch (1888–1947), Head studied sensory function in soldiers with spinal injuries. They discovered that some patients could perceive motion or changes in light even when touch was lost. Their wartime research introduced nuanced understanding of partial lesions, functional recovery, and rehabilitation potential in cord trauma. Publsuhed as the automatic bladder, excessive sweating and some other reflex conditions in gross injuries of the spinal cord. Brain, 1917
Head’s Zones and Visceral Sensation (1893–1894)
Head proposed that certain areas of skin exhibit heightened sensitivity (hyperalgesia) during visceral disease. These “Head’s zones” mapped dermatomes that shared spinal segments with affected internal organs. The phenomenon helped explain referred pain—why cardiac pain might be felt in the arm or gallbladder pain in the shoulder—and laid foundations for modern pain diagnosis.
Head and James Sherren (1872-1945) had tried to determine the sensibility remaining after complete division of all cutaneous nerves without injury to the muscular branches. However accidents of this nature were exceedingly rare, and although ‘real patients’ were helpful it was deemed that “Introspection could be made fruitful by the personal experiences of a trained observer only“. The decision was therefore made to perform surgical transection on the left hand radial nerve of Head, with evaluation of results by William Halse Rivers (1864-1922)…
At the time of the experiment, H. was nearly 42 years of age and in perfect health. Since boyhood he had suffered from no illnesses, excepting as the consequence of wounds in the post-mortem room….For two years before these experiments began he had given up smoking entirely. No alcohol was ever taken on the days during which he was under examination.
On April 25, 1903…an incision 6.5 in. (16.5 cm.) long was made in the outer bicipital fossa extending along the axial line of the left upper extremity…the radial nerve was divided at the point where it arises from the musculospiral (N. radialis). A small portion was excised, and the ends united with two fine silk sutures. The external cutaneous nerve (N. cutaneus antibrachii lateralis) was also divided…and sutured with fine silk
Rivers 1908
Following the surgical section and repair of Head’s superficial radial nerve, Sherren and Rivers commenced rigorous and meticulous observation through sensory testing and evaluating psycho-social responses during the period of recovery and for the following 5 years. This contributed greatly to the understanding of the sensory examination following nerve injury
Head’s posterior roots (1891) and dermatome mapping
..a fundamental difference between the areas marked out on the surface of the body by Sherrington and by myself in that, whilst his areas overlap considerably, mine do not overlap to any appreciable extent
Head 1893: 43
1932: Professor Otfrid Foerster published The dermatomes in man and concluded that ‘The dermatomes of man overlap to the same large degree as do those of the monkey’
I have had the opportunity of defining a great number of dermatomes in man by exactly the same method as that used by Sherrington, that is by outlining the borders of the sensibility which remains after a large number of contiguous roots have been divided, and a single root in the middle of them has been left intact. I need not discuss here the circumstances under which such a selected procedure may be undertaken.…
Foerster 1933
Key Medical Contributions
- Dermatomal Mapping: 450 cases analyzed with Campbell formed modern segmental dermatome maps.
- Protopathic vs Epicritic Sensibility: Sensory modalities conceptualized as distinct neural systems.
- Deep Sensibility: Clarified proprioceptive and vibratory pathways.
- Spinal Injury Studies: Wartime data with Riddoch led to novel classifications of sensory preservation.
- Aphasia Classification: Challenged localizationism; introduced symbolic formulation theory.
- Schema and Body Image: Theoretical basis for neuropsychological understanding of self-perception.
Aphasia and Symbolic Formulation
In Aphasia and kindred disorders of speech. (1926), Head rejected strict anatomical localization theories of Broca and Wernicke. Instead, he posited that language impairments reflect failures of symbolic formulation—the capacity to represent, organize, and express thoughts through language. He identified types such as verbal, syntactic, semantic, and nominal aphasia. His emphasis on cognitive-linguistic integration over fixed cortical centers presaged later developments in neuropsychology and language theory.
Thalamic Function:
Head differentiated affective vs discriminative sensation. Head distinguished between the sensory contributions of the thalamus and cerebral cortex. He proposed that the thalamus processes the affective (emotional and motivational) dimension of sensation—such as discomfort or urgency—while the cortex mediates discriminative functions, including localization, intensity, and texture. This dual-pathway model influenced future research into pain and somatosensory processing, and prefigured modern understandings of central pain syndromes and affective neuroscience.
Protopathic and Epicritic Systems
To classify sensory recovery after nerve injury, Head and Rivers coined the terms “protopathic” (primitive, pain, temperature) and “epicritic” (discriminative touch, fine localization). The dichotomy proposed separate pathways and processing for coarse and refined sensations. Though later modified by neurophysiology, this model shaped early sensory neuroscience and inspired generations of clinical researchers.
Schema and Body Image
Head introduced the idea of a “postural schema”—an internal, dynamic model of the body’s position in space, built from joint, muscle, and skin inputs. This concept prefigured body image theories in neurology and psychology. It remains central in understanding conditions such as neglect, phantom limb, and sensorimotor integration disorders.
Major Publications
- Head H. On the disturbances of sensation, with special reference to the pain of visceral disease. 1893; 16(1-2): 1-133 [Head’s zones]
- Head H. On the disturbances of sensation, with special reference to the pain of visceral disease. Part II – Head and neck. 1894, 17(3): 339-480. [Head’s zones]
- Head H. On the disturbances of sensation, with special reference to the pain of visceral disease. Part III – Pains in then disease of the heart and lung. 1896, 19(2-3): 153-276. [Head’s zones]
- Head H, Campbell AW. The pathology of herpes zoster and its bearing on sensory localization. Brain 1900; 23: 353–523
- Head H, Rivers WHR, Sherren J. The afferent nervous system from a new aspect, 1905
- Head H, Sherren J. The Consequences of Injury to the Peripheral Nerves in Man. Brain; 1905: 28(2): 116-338
- Rivers WH, Head H. A human experiment in nerve division. Brain 1908; 31(3): 323–450 [Radial nerve dissection]
- Head G, Holmes GM. Sensory disturbances from cerebral lesions. Brain, 1911; 34(2-3): 102–254. [Head-Holmes syndrome]
- Head H, Fearnsides EG. The clinical aspects of syphilis of the nervous system. 1914
- Head H, Riddoch G. The automatic bladder, excessive sweating and some other reflex conditions in gross injuries of the spinal cord. Brain, 1917; 40(2-3): 188-263 [Head-Riddoch syndrome (autonomic dysreflexia)]
- Head H. Studies in neurology, 1920 [Volume II]
- Head H. Aphasia and kindred disorders of speech. 1926
Poetry
- Head H. Destroyers and Other Poems. Oxford University Press, 1919. This tome includes collected poems from privately published books including Pastoral; Spring Death; and Songs of La Mouche
References
Biography
- Holmes G. Henry Head, 1861 – 1940. Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society. 1941; 3(10): 665–689
- Obituary: Sir Henry Head, M.D. Arch. Neurol. Pysch 1941; 45: 698-702
- Brain R. Henry Head: The Man and His Ideas. Brain. 1961; 84(4): 561–566.
- Brain R. Henry Head’s work on sensation. Brain, 1961; 84(4): 535-550.
- Sir Henry Head (1861-1940). JAMA. 1965;191(4):334-335.
- Henson RA. Henry Head: his influence on the development of ideas on sensation. British Medical Bulletin. 1977; 33(2): 91-96.
- Trombley S. A Sympathetic Empiricist: Sir Henry Head. In: All that summer she was mad : Virginia Woolf and her doctors. 1981: 159-182
- Reich SG. Destroyers and other verses. Henry Head, the poet. Arch Neurol. 1988;45(11):1257-1260.
- Pearce JM. Henry Head (1861-1940). J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2000 Nov;69(5):578.
- Greenberg SA. Henry Head (1861-1940). J Neurol. 2004 Sep;251(9):1158-9.
- Compston A. Sir Henry Head FRS (1861-1940): a life in science and society. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2017 Sep;88(9):716-717
Eponymous terms
- Foerster O. The dermatomes in man. Brain 1933; 56(1): 1–39
- Silver JR. The history of Guttmann’s and Whitteridge’s discovery of autonomic dysreflexia. Spinal Cord. 2000;38(10):581-596
- Pearce JM. Henry Head (1861-1940). J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2000; 69(5): 578.
- Greenberg SA. The history of dermatome mapping. Arch Neurol. 2003;60(1):126-131.
- Greenberg SA. Henry Head (1861-1940). J Neurol. 2004; 251(9): 1158-1159.
- Pearce JM. The micrographia of Sir Henry Head (1861-1940). J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2008;79(3):307.
- Lenfest SM, Vaduva-Nemes A, Okun MS. Dr. Henry Head and lessons learned from his self-experiment on radial nerve transection. J Neurosurg. 2011;114(2):529-533.
- Schott GD. Henry Head, herpes zoster and the graphic development of his ‘scheme of the dermatomes in man’. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2017;88(9):789-793.
- Compston A. Sir Henry Head FRS (1861-1940): a life in science and society. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2017; 88(9): 716-717.
Legacy
Sir Henry Head remains a defining figure in the history of neurology. His interdisciplinary legacy spans medicine, literature, physiology, and psychology. His imaginative insight, rigorous experimentation, and generosity of spirit shaped not only scientific doctrines but the lives of colleagues and patients. His poetry and philosophical interests enriched the cultural fabric of early 20th-century Britain, and his concepts of sensory processing and symbolic thought continue to resonate in contemporary neuroscience.
Eponym
the person behind the name
