McNee, Sir John William (1887-1984: medical doctor, Professor of Practice of Medicine, University of Glasgow, 1936-1953)

Sir John William McNee was born on the 17 December 1887 the only son of John McNee. He was educated at the Royal Grammar school, Newcastle. He went on to study at the University of Glasgow , University of Freiburg and Johns Hopkins University . He was a McCunn Scholar and a Carnegie Research Fellow in Pathology, 1911-1914. He took his MD and the Bellahouston Gold Medal in 1914 . During the First World War he served as a Major in the RAMC and acted as Pathologist to the British First Army in France. Here his work on trench fever, gas gangrene and gas poisoning was of great help in ameliorating the condition of troops in the field and he was awarded the DSO (Distinguished Service Order) and mentioned in despatches.

As a result of his war work he was appointed to the teaching unit of University College London . He later became physician to the Hospital. It was during this time that he did his major research on the diseases of the liver, spleen and gall bladder. This research formed the basis for the textbook Diseases of the Liver, Gall Bladder and Bile Ducts co-written with Sir Humphrey Davy Rolleston in 1929 . The spleen was the subject of his Lettsomian lectures at the Medical Society of London in 1931 and of his Croonian lectures at the Royal College of Physicians in 1932. In 1939 he was joint author with Professors D M Dunlop and L S P Davidson of the Textbook of Medical Treatment .

In 1936 he was appointed Regius Professor of Practice of Medicine at Glasgow University. In the following year he was made civil consultant to the Royal Navy in Scotland. With the outbreak of the Second World War he became a temporary Surgeon Rear-Admiral and Consulting Physican to the Navy in Scotland and the Western Approaches. This led to further publications on war time diseases. He was Physician of the King in Scotland from 1937-1952 and was Physician to the Queen in Scotland from 1952-1954 . In 1951 he was knighted. In 1953 he retired from his chair at Glasgow University but he continued to be an examiner for many universities. He died on the 26 January 1984 .

Source: Glasgow University Graduates Association , The College Courant: Journal of the Glasgow University Graduates Association, no.73 Glasgow, Scotland 1984

From the guide to the Papers of Sir John William McNee, 1887-1984, medical doctor, Professor of Practice of Medicine, University of Glasgow, 1936-1953, 1902-1954, (Glasgow University Archives Service)