[3] For his study of acetylcholine as agent in the chemical transmission of nerve pulses (neurotransmission) he shared the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Otto Loewi.

[1][9] Henry was the third of seven children, one of whom (his younger brother, Benjamin Dale) became an accomplished composer and warden of the Royal Academy of Music.

Dale became the director of the Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology at the National Institute for Medical Research in London in 1914.

Although Dale and his colleagues first identified acetylcholine in 1914 as a possible neurotransmitter, Loewi showed its importance in the nervous system.

This particular interpretation of Dale's principle has been shown to be false, as many neurons release neuropeptides and amino acids in addition to classical neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine or biogenic amines (see cotransmission) [citation needed](Bear, et al. 2001).

This phenomenon was most popularized by the Swedish neuroanatomist and neuropharmacologist Tomas Hökfelt, who is considered to be the "Father of the Coexistence Principle."

One of their daughters, Alison Sarah Dale, married Alexander R. Todd, who won the 1957 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and served as President of the Royal Society from 1975 to 1980.