David Eric Cameron Mekie

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". ...

OBE (1902–1989) was a Scottish surgeon and Keeper of the Museum of the

Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) is a professional organisation of surgeons. The RCSEd has five faculties, covering a broad spectrum of surgical, dental, and other medical and healthcare specialities. Its main campus is locate ...

from 1955 to 1974.

Life

He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

the son of David Mekie

, a local builder and amateur geographer, living at Waverley Park on Spring Gardens just east of

Holyrood Palace The Palace of Holyroodhouse ( or ), commonly known as Holyrood Palace, is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood has s ...

. From 1935 to 1955 he was Professor of Surgery at the

University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University. The university offers degree program ...

. He returned to Edinburgh to be Director of Post Graduate Medicine at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, also taking over the running of the Surgical Museum at the same time. He introduced the first policy of selective display within the museum. In 1959 he was elected a member of the

Harveian Society of Edinburgh The Harveian Society of Edinburgh was founded in April 1782 by Andrew Duncan (physician, born 1744), Andrew Duncan. The Society holds an annual Festival in honour of the life and works of William Harvey, the physician who first correctly des ...

. In 1962 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 Sir William Wallace, George Montgomery, James Kirkwood Slater and

Douglas Guthrie Douglas James Guthrie (8 September 1885 – 8 June 1975) was a Scottish medical doctor, otolaryngologist and historian of medicine. After graduating in Medicine from Edinburgh University, he pursued postgraduate studies into diseases of ear, ...

. He died on 17 November 1989 and is buried in

Grange Cemetery The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange) is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hi ...

in south Edinburgh. The grave lies within the southern half of the western extension.

Family

He was married to Ada Winifred Knott (died 1970).

Publications

*''The Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh'' (1978) with Violet Tansey *''Atlases of Demonstrations in Surgical Pathology'' (1983)

References

1902 births 1989 deaths Medical doctors from Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 20th-century Scottish surgeons Burials at the Grange Cemetery Members of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire {{Scotland-med-bio-stub