[5] Manson-Bahr was born at Wavertree, Liverpool, to Louis Friedrich Bahr and Emily Louisa Blessig.

Originally from the Province of Hanover, Germany, his father moved to Liverpool as a business partner of Anthony & Bernard Schroeder & Co, merchants and brokers.

He entered Trinity College, Cambridge and studied the Natural Sciences Tripos, with zoology as his main course.

[4] With his medical degree in 1907, Manson-Bahr earned membership of the Royal College of Surgeons, and was appointed house physician of the hospital.

In 1912 he spent 14 months in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) upon an invitation by Tea Planter's Association to investigate tropical sprue.

[4] Manson-Bahr is credited with unravelling the mystery of how the Common snipe creates its drumming sound which is unlike other birdsong.

He worked out that the sound was created by placing out two tail feathers at 90 degrees to the direction of flight.

He demonstrated this in front of the British Ornithologists Union by inserting two snipe feathers into a cork which he then whirled around his head on a string.