Alexander MacCormick KCMG MD (1856 - 1947)

Born 31 Jul 1856 in North Knapdale, Argyll, Scotland, United Kingdom

Husband of Ada Fanny Hare (Cropper) MacCormick — married before 26 Feb 1895 in Woollahra, New South Wales (Australia)

Descendants

Died 25 Oct 1947 at age 91 in St Brelade, Jersey, Channel Islands

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Biography

Alexander MacCormick KCMG MD is Notable.

formative years

Alexander MacCormick KCMG MD was born in Scotland.

Alexander MacCormick was born on 31st July 1856 in North Knapdale, Argyll, Scotland, United Kingdom. He was the son of Archibald MacCormick, a farmer and coastal trader, and Mary Campbell. ^[1] He was educated at Lochgilphead School.

In 1876 he enrolled at the University of Edinburgh to study Medicine and graduated with the dual degrees Bachelor of Medicine (MB) and Bachelor of Surgery (ChB) in 1881. His classmates included Robert Scot Skirving and Thomas Anderson Stuart, both of whom made their names in Australia, and noted author and physician Arthur Conan Doyle.

New South Wales

Alexander MacCormick KCMG MD migrated from Scotland to New South Wales.

After spending a year at Liverpool, England, as house surgeon to E R Bickersteth, one of the first surgeons to adopt Lister's methods, Alexander migrated to New South Wales (Australia) to join Anderson Stuart at his University of Sydney medical school as demonstrator in anatomy and physiology. In 1885 he was awarded an Doctor of Medicine (MD) and gold medal by the University of Edinburgh for his thesis on the musculature of the native cat. That year he was appointed an honorary assistant surgeon at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and in 1890 senior surgeon and lecturer at University of Sydney in the principles and practice of surgery.

Alexander married Ada Cropper on 26th February 1895 in All Saints Church, Woollahra. ^[2] The couple had two sons and two daughters:

1. Alison M C (1896-); married surname Martin
2. Alexander Campbell (1897-1916)
3. Charles M C (1902-)
4. Morna C (1906-); married surname Anderson

Alexander MacCormick KCMG MD is a Military Veteran.
Served in the New South Wales Colonial Military Force 1900-1901
New South Wales Medical Corps

He served in the Second Boer War in South Africa as an honorary Major with the New South Wales Medical Corps from January 1900 and was Mentioned in Despatches, equivalent to today's Commendation for Gallantry, in September 1901.

He was president of the New South Wales branch of the British Medical Association in 1905, and between 1884 and 1915 published over thirty articles in the Australasian Medical Gazette and other journals. He was elected an honorary Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons, England, in 1900 and Edinburgh in 1905.

Alexander built a seven-storey block of flats and consulting rooms in Macquarie Street, and in 1912 a house, Kilmory, on Point Piper, where he lived quietly with his family.

He was created Knight Bachelor on 1st July 1913 for his 'services to medicine in New South Wales'. ^[3] That year he retired from Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and was appointed honorary surgeon to St Vincent's Hospital, remaining so until 1931.

Alexander MacCormick KCMG MD is a Military Veteran.
Served in the Australian Imperial Force 1915-1918
Australian Army Medical Corps

On the outbreak of war in 1914 Alexander went to England and joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in November. As a Colonel and consulting surgeon he served in France at the Boulogne base with the British Expeditionary Force. He took with him a supply of Thomas knee splints and in vain urged their use by field ambulances. Also commissioned in the Australian Army Medical Corps, he was sent to Lemnos with the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). Frustrated, he returned to Sydney in February 1916 but after the death in action in October of his eldest son he rejoined the AIF in May 1917; in France his talents were again largely wasted. Back in Sydney in February 1918, he became a consultant at Prince Henry Hospital and the Military Hospital, Randwick.

He was a director of the Australian Mutual Provident Society in 1919-31 and the Bank of New South Wales in 1930-31, president of the Central District Ambulance Committee and an executive-member of the Navy League.

Alexander was created Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) on 3rd July 1926 as a 'leading surgeon'. ^[4]

In 1927 he became a foundation vice-president of the College of Surgeons of Australasia.

Philanthropy

From 1903 Alexander had owned a private hospital, The Terraces, at Paddington. In 1926 he gave The Terraces with an endowment of £25,000 to the Presbyterian Church in memory of his son; it became known as the Scottish Hospital.

Sailing

Sailing was Alexander's great source of recreation. He bought the yacht, Thelma, and successfully raced her in the 1890s. Joining the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron in 1893, he was commodore in 1897-1900 and again in 1913-20. In 1913 he had built a cutter, Morna, for cruising. He was a founder and first commodore of the Prince Edward Yacht Club in 1920. In 1927 he visited Scotland to supervise the building of a schooner, Ada. With four others he sailed her through the Panama Canal, reaching Sydney after a four-month voyage. He was made a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes and became the only yachtsman on Sydney Harbour privileged to fly the white ensign.

Retirement

Alexander retired to the Channel Islands in 1931 and sailed in Scotland in the summers. He dramatically escaped from Jersey in his yacht, crammed with refugees, only hours before the Nazis arrived. He lived in London for the rest of the war. Aged 91 years, he passed away on 25th October 1947 in St Brelade, Jersey. He was survived by his wife, a son and two daughters.

Sources

1. ↑ ecord of birth is yet to be located
2. ↑ New South Wales Marriage Index #2011/1895
3. ↑ Australian Honours: Knight Bachelor; accessed 19 Sep 2023
4. ↑ Australian Honours: KCMG; accessed 19 Sep 2023

See also

• Miller, Douglas. 'MacCormick, Sir Alexander (1856–1947)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1986; accessed online 19 Sep 2023.