John Gray McKendrick (12 August 1841 – 2 January 1926) was a Scottish

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out chemical and ...

. He served as Regius Professor of Physiology at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

from 1876 to 1906, and was co-founder of the Physiological Society.

Early life

McKendrick was born on 12 August 1841, 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 ...

, to merchant James McKendrick. He was initially apprenticed as a lawyer (1855–1861) but left law to study medicine at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

and 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 ...

before graduating in 1864 as an MB ChB. He worked in Chester General Infirmary, Eastern Dispensary at

Whitechapel Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...

then the Belford Hospital in Fort William. In 1869, he became the assistant to the Professor of Physiology at the University of Edinburgh, John Hughes Bennett, pursuing his own research into the nervous system and special senses. McKendrick went on to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1873, having been proposed by William Turner, serving as a councillor and eventually the Vice-President from 1894 until 1900. He won the Society's Makdougall-Brisbane Prize for the period 1894–96.

Glasgow

He took up a post at the

in 1873, first as an extramural lecturer (one of his students was the physician

Sophia Jex-Blake Sophia Louisa Jex-Blake (21 January 1840 – 7 January 1912) was an English physician, teacher, and feminism, feminist. She led the campaign to secure women access to a university education, when she began studying medicine at the Universit ...

) and then as Regius Professor of Physiology in 1876. John McKenrick was a popular lecturer, raising significant funds for modernising his department and leading it into concentrating on the study and teaching of physiology. McKendrik sought to reflect his modernising efforts in the renaming his position, from Chair of "Theory of Physic or Institutes of Medicine" to Chair of Physiology in 1893. In 1874 he was elected a member of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh. McKendrick was a founder member of the Physiological Society and Fullerian Professor of Physiology and Comparative Anatomy at the

Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...

from 1881 to 1884; he resigned the Fullerian Professor on 5 March 1884 due to ill health. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1884. In 1891 and 1895 was invited to deliver the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on ''Life in Motion; or the Animal Machine'' and ''Sound, Hearing and Speech'' respectively. He retired from his university chair in 1906.

Personal and later life

He married Mary Souttar in 1867, and two of their children,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

and Anderson, would go on to become fellows 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 ...

. He became Provost of

Stonehaven Stonehaven ( ) is a town on the northeast coast of Scotland, south of Aberdeen. It had a population of 11,177 at th2022 Census Stonehaven was formerly the county town of Kincardineshire, succeeding the now abandoned town of Kincardine, Aberd ...

upon his retirement in 1910. He returned to Glasgow around 1925, dying at his home in Rosslyn Terrace on 2 January 1926, aged 84.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McKendrick, John Gray 1926 deaths 1841 births Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Scottish physiologists Fullerian Professors of Physiology Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society Journal of Anatomy editors Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Alumni of the University of Glasgow Members of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh