Harold Fergie Woods L.R.C.P. M.R.C.S. (11 October 1883 – 15 January 1961) was a British orthodox physician who converted to homeopathy to become Consultant for Diseases of Children at the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital.

Woods was a student of James Tyler Kent, and a colleague of Sir John Weir, Alva Benjamin, Douglas Morris Borland, and William Percy Purdom.

Harold Fergie Woods was an opponent of vaccination. He was a board member and vice-president of The National Anti-Vaccination League, and he was also a member of the earlier London Society for the Abolition of Compulsory Vaccination, alongside Henry Tudor Edmunds, Henry Valentine Knaggs, Erich Kurt Ledermann, Dorothy Shepherd, James John Garth Wilkinson, and many others.

Harold Fergie Woods was born on 11 October 1883, in Bolton, Lancashire, to Church of England Reverend Arthur Woods (1854 – 1918) and Margaret Jane Fergie (1852 – 1936).

Fergie Woods decided on a career in medicine and trained at the London Middlesex Hospital. In August 1908, he qualified with diplomas from the Royal Colleges of Physicians of London and Surgeons of England.

In January, 1910, Woods was elected as a member of the British Homeopathic Society. Two years later, in May 1912, he was appointed secretary of the Materia Medica and Therapeutics section of the Society.

In August 1916, Harold Fergie Woods was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was invalided out of active duty as a result of a gas attack in early 1918.

In 1908, he went over to the U.S.A. for six months, accompanied by John Weir… to study under the great James Tyler Kent (also with Douglas Morris Borland), and so started on their return to break with tradition of the low potency men.

He was R.M.O. at the London Homeopathic Hospital from 1909-1910  and was appointed Assistant Physician for Diseases of Children in 1920, Full Physician in 1928  and Consultant in 1937.

In those early years too, he was Senior Physician at the Children’s Homeopathic Dispensary at Shepherd’s Bush, started by John Roberson Day about 1920. The Dispensary was amalgamated with the London Homeopathic Hospital in 1937, and thus became part of the Children’s Outpatient Department there.

Throughout the country he was well known as a homeopathic physician of great ability and he had a long record of success in this sphere.

Soon after qualifying in 1908 he went to America to study under James Tyler Kent of Chicago through a scholarship instituted by Henry Tyler, father of Margaret Lucy Tyler, the eminent homeopathic physician.

Harold Fergie Woods also used manipulation with great success and was responsible for introducing James Tyler Kent to this, until then, comparatively new method of treatment.

He had a long association with the London Homeopathic Hospital, from 1909 when he became Resident Medical Officer and throughout the years following when he was Assistant Physician, and later Physician, for Diseases of Children and in later years Consulting Physician, a position which he held until the date of his death.

He was also Physician to the Children’s Homeopathic Dispensary at Shepherd’s Bush for many years until it became incorporated with the London Homeopathic Hospital.

In addition to his qualities as a physician, he was always available to help in publicity for the cause of homeopathy either by writing or lecturing.

He was also a generous contributor to Homeopathy throughout the years.

Harold Fergie Woods joined the Council of the British Homeopathic Association in February, 1946, and in all the years he was a regular attender at meetings and valuable counselor in the affairs of the Association.

Harold Fergie Woods died in his sleep on the night of January 14th, 1961, just two months after the death of his wife Dorothy, in similar circumstances.

It was a great tribute to him that many patients continued to consult him, in spite of his almost complete blindness, right up to the day of his death.

As one of the Founders of the International Homeopathic League in 1925, Fergie remained a staunch supporter of it and was a frequent attendant at its Conferences until his sight became too bad.

He leaves three children who are all married with families.

His eldest son, David, is a doctor and is studying Homeopathy.

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Of interest:

David Fergie Woods M.B. B.S. (1929 – 2021), son of Harold Fergie Woods, followed his father in becoming an homeopathic physician. After John Robertson Raeside was killed in the Staines Trident Air Disaster, David Fergie Woods delivered Raeside‘s paper to the 27th Triennial Congress of the International Homoeopathic League, held in Brussels, in June 1972.

Myrica Fergie Woods (b. 1933) is the daughter of Harold Fergie Woods. She married Sir John Anson, son of Sir Edward Reynell Anson, 6th Bt. and Frances Alison Pollock, on 20 July 1957. From 20 July 1957, her married name became Anson.

Children of Myrica Fergie Woods and Sir John Anson:

* Dr. Christopher Anson+ b. 22 May 1958
* Rachel Mary Anson+ b. 6 Dec 1961
* Timothy John Anson b. 27 Jan 1967, d. 3 Sep 1999
* Elizabeth Margaret Anson b. 2 Nov 1968