James Ormiston Affleck was born in Edinburgh in 1840. He decided to become a doctor and studied at Edinburgh University, qualifying in 1867 with the degrees of M.B. and C.M. and taking the Licence at the Royal College of Surgeons. After qualifying he settled down to practice in the Stockbridge district of the city, but in the evening he continued to study and to work on his thesis Functional disorders of the heart . He took his M.D. degree in 1869 and then in 1875 he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. Affleck's talents were noticed by Professor Sir Douglas Maclagan (1812-1900) who selected him as his Assistant in the Department of Public Health and Medical Jurisprudence at Edinburgh University. Because Maclagan was also one of the clinical teachers at the Royal Infirmary, Affleck as his Assistant soon became just as well known and respected in both the University and the Infirmary, and in 1877 he was appointed Assistant Physician to the Royal Infirmary. Around this time he started as Lecturer on the Practice of Medicine at Surgeons' Hall, Edinburgh. When his term of office at the Infirmary expired in 1900, he was appointed Consulting Physician at the City Fever Hospital where he continued to teach until 1908. He also acted as Physician to the Longmore Hospital for Incurables. Affleck was knighted at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in Edinburgh, in 1911. Sir James Ormiston Affleck died on 24 September 1922.
From the guide to the Lectures of Sir James Ormiston Affleck (1840-1922), 1890-1891, (Edinburgh University Library)
