David Waldie was born in Linlithgow on 27 February 1813. He was educated at Linlithgow Grammar School, and then went to Edinburgh to study medicine, qualifying in 1831. He then practised as a surgeon and apothecary in Linlithgow for the next few years.
In 1839 or 1840 Waldie gave up medicine and moved to Liverpool, where he took the post of Chemist to the Liverpool Apothecaries' Hall. Whilst in Liverpool Waldie first encountered chloroform, which he managed to produce in an improved, purer form. In the autumn of 1847 he suggested to James Young Simpson that chloroform might be suitable for use as an anaesthetic.
In 1853 Waldie emigrated to India, to take up a post as Chemist for a chemical works, Malcolm & Co, of Calcutta. Around 1860 Waldie established his own chemical works at Barnagore, Calcutta. In 1874 the company (D. Waldie&Co) was relocated to Kasipur, West Bengal. David Waldie died on 23 June 1889, and was buried in the Scottish Cemetery, Calcutta.
From the guide to the Papers of David Waldie, 1813-1889, 1847-1958, (Liverpool Medical Institution)
