Alexander Morison McAldowie

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(16 May 1852 – 4 September 1926) was a Scottish physician, folklorist and ornithologist. As an author his topics are diverse, and he wrote in all three fields, being known either as Alex McAldowie or A. M. McAldowie.

Life

He was born on 16 May 1852 in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

the son of John McAldowie. He studied medicine at

Aberdeen University The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland, petitioned Pope Al ...

and graduated MB ChM with highest honours in 1875. He became Assistant Surgeon at

Aberdeen Royal Infirmary Aberdeen Royal Infirmary is the largest hospital in the Grampian area, located on the Foresterhill site in Aberdeen, Scotland. ARI is a teaching hospital with around 900 inpatient beds, offering tertiary care for a population of over 600,000 acr ...

. He then moved south to England to be House Surgeon at the

Royal Surrey County Hospital The Royal Surrey County Hospital (RSCH) is a 520-bed district general hospital, located on the fringe of Guildford, run by the Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Royal Surrey has received excellent recognition by the Care Qualit ...

. Finally he was Consulting Physician at the

North Staffordshire The federation of Stoke-on-Trent was the 1910 amalgamation of the six Staffordshire Potteries towns of Burslem, Tunstall, Stoke-upon-Trent, Hanley, Fenton and Longton into the single county borough of Stoke-on-Trent. The federation was one of ...

Infirmary. In 1887, he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were James Gregg Smith, John Charles Ogilvie Will, Robert Gray and

John Gray McKendrick John Gray McKendrick (12 August 1841 – 2 January 1926) was a Scottish physiologist. He served as Regius Professor of Physiology at the University of Glasgow from 1876 to 1906, and was co-founder of the Physiological Society. Early life McKe ...

. He lived most of his later life in

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

, where he was a leading member of the North Staffordshire Field Club, then one of the largest and most active such societies in the British Isles. In 1900, he was awarded the club's Garner Medal " for his contributions to Natural History generally, and especially for his monograph on the Birds of Staffordshire".

Publications

*''On Spinal Epilepsy'' (1878) *''Two Cases of Meniere's Disease'' (1883) *''Terebene as a Generator of Ozone'' (1886) *''The Birds of

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

'' (1893) *''Staffordshire Knots: The Book of the Bazaar'' (1895) *''Personal Experiences of Witchcraft'' (1896) *''Prehistoric Time Measurement in Britain'' (1911) *''On the Human Plantar Reflexes''. *''

Pwllheli Pwllheli ( ; ) is a market town and community on the Llŷn Peninsula (), in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It had a population of 4,076 in 2011, which declined slightly to 3,947 in 2021; a large proportion (81%) were Welsh language, Welsh speaking. ...

, a Winter Health Resort''. McAldowie also contributed to the journal ''Folklore'' in the 1890s, mainly on the topic of possible survivals of witchcraft superstitions.The Guide to Mysterious Aberdeen, Geoff Holder

References

1852 births 1926 deaths 19th-century Scottish medical doctors 20th-century Scottish medical doctors Scottish ornithologists Scottish folklorists Scottish non-fiction writers Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh People from Aberdeen Alumni of the University of Aberdeen People from Stoke-on-Trent {{Scotland-med-bio-stub