Sir John McMichael

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". ...

LLD (25 July 1904 – 4 March 1993) was a 20th-century Scottish cardiologist. He developed the Royal Post Graduate Medical School at

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

Life

He was born on 25 July 1904 in

Gatehouse of Fleet Gatehouse of Fleet ( ) is a town, half in the civil parish of Girthon, and half in the parish of Anwoth, divided by the river Water of Fleet, Fleet, Kirkcudbrightshire, within the council administrative area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. ...

Kirkcudbrightshire Kirkcudbrightshire ( ) or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the Counties of Scotland, historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an ...

, the son of a butcher and farmer of a

smallholding A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...

. He was educated at Girthon School by William Learmonth, father of

James Learmonth Sir James Rögnvald Learmonth (1895–1967) was a Scottish surgeon who made pioneering advances in neurosurgery, nerve surgery.

who encouraged him to enter

Kirkcudbright Academy Kirkcudbright Academy is a state funded, six-year secondary school in Kirkcudbright, Scotland with about 400 pupils and 87 staff including teaching, support and administration. Notable alumni *Jennie Adamson, Labour Party politician, junior m ...

where he became school

dux ''Dux'' (, : ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, ''dux'' coul ...

. He then studied 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 ...

graduating MB ChB in 1927 and then became an Ettles Scholar and assistant to Sir Stanley Davidson. In 1932 he went to London as a Beit Memorial Fellow at University College Hospital, working with

Sir Thomas Lewis Sir Thomas Lewis (26 December 1881 – 17 March 1945) was a Welsh cardiologist. He coined the term "clinical science" and is also known for the Lewis P Factor.Biography, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' Early life and education Lewi ...

and John McNee. He returned to Edinburgh in 1934 and specialised in

cardiology Cardiology () is the study of the heart. Cardiology is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery di ...

. In 1936 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 Ivan De Burgh Daly,

Philip Eggleton Philip Eggleton FRSE (19 March 1903 – 7 October 1954) was a British biochemist, physiologist, lecturer, and (with his wife Grace Palmer Eggleton), co-discoverer of Phosphagens. Life Eggleton was born at Kingston-on-Thames on 19 March 1903. ...

Alfred Joseph Clark Professor Alfred Joseph Clark MC FRS FRSE (19 August 1885 – 30 July 1941) was a British pharmacologist and Professor of Pharmacology at the University College, London. He was a de-bunker of fraudulent remedies and did many early studies on ...

, and

David Murray Lyon David Malcolm Murray Lyon FRSE DPH (1888-1956) was an English physician and medical author. He was president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh from 1945–47, and was editor of the Scottish Medical Journal, Edinburgh Medical Jour ...

. He resigned in 1957. In 1939 he was invited to Hammersmith by Prof Francis Fraser to the new school of medicine in Hammersmith in London. McMichael became its Director in 1946 and remained in the post for 20 years. He was knighted by Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

for services to medicine in 1965. He retired in 1966. He died in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

on 4 March 1993.

Family

In 1932, he married Joan McPherson (d.1989) they had two sons and divorced. In 1942, he married a second time, this time to Sybil Blake by whom he had another two sons including Andrew James McMichael. Following her death in 1965 he married a third and final time, to Dr Sheila Howarth, widow of Peter Sharpey Schafer.''The Independent'' (newspaper) obituary, 13 March 1993.

Publications

*''Pharmacology of the Failing Heart'' (1951)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McMichael, John 1904 births 1993 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences British cardiologists