Papers relating to Sir Ashley Mackintosh

Photocopy of Presentation of Portraits of Sir Ashley W. Mackintosh, KCVO, MA, M.D., LL.D.: 20 May 1933 (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1933). In the spring of 1930, after Sir Ashley W. Mackintosh had resigned from the Chair of Medicine in the University of Aberdeen and from the post of Senior Physician in the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, the Medical Committee of the Royal Infirmary resolved that his services to the University and to the Infirmary should receive public recognition, and suggested that the Aberdeen Medico-Chirurgical Society in co-operation with the London Committee should promote the scheme. Circular letters sent to Medical graduates of Aberdeen and to local and national newspapers raised a subscription of nearly £1000. The committee commissioned John B. Souter to paint two portraits of Sir Ashley, one to be presented to the University and the other to himself. The presentation which took place on 20 May 1932 was marked by the publication of this commemorative brochure which contains a photogravure of the painting and an account of the proceedings, including tributes paid to Sir Ashley with details of his life and career, and his reply to the committee.

Ashley Mackintosh was born in 1868, the son of Rev James Mackintosh, minister of Deskford, Banffshire. He was educated at Deskford Public School, Fochabers Academy and Aberdeen University, from where he graduated MA in 1888, with first class honours in classics and mathematics. After graduation he received a scholarship to study mathematics at Cambridge, but shortly afterwards returned to Aberdeen where he began the study of medicine, graduating M.B., Ch.B. in 1893. He was awarded the John Murray medal and scholarship and the George Thompson Travelling Fellowship, which enabled him to pursue his medical studies in Leipzig and Vienna, where he began to specialise in the study of nervous diseases. Upon his return to Britain, he continued this work in London under the guidance of Sir David Ferrier, F.R.S., master of neurology, before returning to Aberdeen where he received his M.D.. After a short time in general medical practice, he was appointed physician and consultant at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, and in 1912 elected to the Chair of Medicine at the University of Aberdeen. During the First World War he served as Lieutenant Colonel attached to the First Scottish General Hospital and consulting Physician to the Scottish Command.

After the War he became Honorary Physician to the King's Household in Scotland and received a knighthood of the Royal Victorian Order. He was the University of Aberdeen's representative on the General Medical Council, and on retiring from his Chair of Medicine in 1930 was honoured with an honorary LL.D.. After his retirement he became a Director of the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, and in this role played an important part in the success of the Joint Hospital Scheme and the building of a new medical school for the city. He also published works on neurological and other medical subjects in medical journals and encyclopaedias. He died on 14 Oct 1937, aged 69.

See Who Was Who, 1929 - 1940, p 872 and obituary in Aberdeen University Review, 25 (1937 - 1938) 4 - 6.

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Deposited in the University in Dec 1988, by Professor A.S. Douglas, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, University of Aberdeen.

Very brief collection level description available on Aberdeen University Library Catalogue, accessible online http://www.abdn.ac.uk/diss/library/

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Photograph of Sir Ashley MacKintosh with John A. MacWilliam (1857 - 1937), physiologist (GB 231 MS 3303)

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An original copy of Presentation of Portraits of Sir Ashley W. MacKintosh, KCVO, MA, M.D., LL.D.: 20 May 1933 (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1933) is deposited in the University pamphlet collection. Full reference details are available from the Library catalogue, available on line, http://www.abdn.ac.uk/diss/library/.