Mackay, George

Epithet: MP for county Sutherlandshire; Master of the Mint in Scotland

Epithet: of Add MS 29133

Epithet: Member of Council of Madras

Epithet: of Add MS 23812

Epithet: Surgeon, RN

The son of Surgeon-General Mackay of the Indian Army, George Mackay was born near Madras in 1861. He was educated at Clifton and Inverness Colleges and graduated M.B., C.M. with honours from Edinburgh University in 1883 and M.D. in 1888. He became M.R.C.S. England in 1883 and F.R.C.S. Edinburgh in 1886. Mackay specialised in ophthalmic surgery and held several appointments including Ophthalmic Surgeon to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Lecturer on Diseases of the Eye at Edinburgh University, Consulting Surgeon to the Royal Blind Asylum and Surgeon to the Deaconess Hospital.

After his retirement from hospital practice he continued to be active with an extensive private practice and became a Manager of the Royal Infirmary and President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh from 1919 - 1921. He was renowned for his precision and success in performing cataract operations with the very limited technical aids then available and published several reports of interesting cases. He also took a keen interest in Celtic affairs, was a founder member and subsequently President of the Clan Mackay Society and was a member of the Royal Company of Archers. Mackay died at his house in Edinburgh on 10th May, 1949, survived by a wife and three sons.

This deposit relates mainly to Mackay's commission of Dorofield Hardy to copy Ouless' portrait of Lord Lister which he presented to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and which hangs in the Fellows' Library. It also contains items alluding to his interest in history and in Gaelic culture.