BSc Manch 1887, MB ChB 1892, MD 1896, DPH 1898; MRCS LRCP 1891; FRCP 1929.
Marsden was born in Manchester and was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Owens College Manchester, where he won a number of honours and was chairman of the Medical Students' Debating Society. In 1894 he was appointed assistant medical officer to Monsall Fever Hospital, Manchester, and seven years later was appointed medical superintendent. In 1906, Marsden was appointed medical officer to Crumpsall Hospital Manchester, where he had been resident medical officer in 1892, and from 1927 to 1933 was superintendent. Under his leadership, Crumpsall gained a well earned reputation for care of patients and training of students. In 1929, Marsden was given the distinction of election as a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, an honour rarely given to superintendents of municipal hospitals. Marsden was also honorary physician to Manchester Northern Hospital, Ancoats Hospital and Manchester Hospital for Consumption. Marsden was clinical lecturer in infectious diseases at Owens College and later clinical lecturer on pulmonary tuberculosis at the University of Manchester. Marsden retired in 1933, but was called out of retirement in 1940 to take charge of the Parkside Emergency Hospital, Macclesfield. Marsden held a number of offices in MMS, including president in 1928, and was a member of Manchester Pathological and Clinical Societies. Marsden died on 10 July 1949. His three sons, Norman Spencer, Cecil Walter and Henry Basil, were all medical men (see above for individual entries).