Lieutenant-Colonel William Henry Edward Woodwright was born at Ballybay in County Monaghan in August 1865 and qualified as a Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons (Ireland) in 1886. Appointed a Surgeon in the Indian Medical Service in October 1887, he was immediately employed on the Hazara Expedition of 1888, afterwards taking up appointment as the Medical Officer in Charge of the 1st Punjab Cavalry. He subsequently enjoyed several such regimental postings over the next decade and was advanced to Major in October 1899. Thereafter he held a number of appointments as a Civil, Jail and Lunatic Asylum Surgeon and attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in October 1907. Woodwright, who had been elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (Ireland) back in 1891, was transferred to the Supernumerary List in June 1915 and the Retired List in July 1920.