Professor Allen Dalzell MD

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 letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(1821–1869) was a Scottish chemist and pharmacologist. He was Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica at the

Dick Veterinary College The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, commonly referred to as the Dick Vet, is the veterinary school of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and part of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine the head of which is Moira Whyt ...

in Edinburgh.

Life

The grave of Allen Dalzell, Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh

He was born in Madras in India in 1821 to a father in the Indian Army. He trained as a doctor and followed in his father in serving in the army until 1846. He came to Edinburgh prior to 1852, where his family roots were. In that year he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh 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 established i ...

, which was an impressive task as a "newcomer" to the city. His proposer was James Dalmahoy. In 1853 the University of Edinburgh granted him a doctorate (MD) but it is unclear if this is where his original medical training took place. From 1853 he began taking on educational roles at firstly the University of Edinburgh then in 1855 added lecturing at the newly founded Dick Vet School, then in the

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alongside its founder, William Dick. In 1860 he is listed as resigning from the Edinburgh Rifle Volunteer Corps where he served alongside Robert Christison who acted as their Captain. He did not marry and lived in rooms at the college on Clyde Street. In January 1869 he and William Williams were sued by former colleague John Adam McBride, leading to a great feeling of ill-will in the college. Whilst sued for £5000 the court, whilst finding slander to be proven, agreed a sum of £500.Cases Decided in the Court of Session, 1869, no.168 This action, to which Dalzell was only very tangentially connected, appeared to take a toll upon his health, especially as the judges opened the possibility for a retrial. He died on 29 July 1869 and is buried beneath a small obelisk in

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and on ...

on the west side of the city. The grave lies to the west side of the original cemetery in a section facing the pyramid on "Lords Row".

Family

He was married to Martha D'Arcy (d.1889).

Trivia

Records indicate that he purchased his laboratory equipment from James Dewar.

Publications

*''Chemistry and Physiology in their Religious Bearings'' (1858)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalzell, Allen 1821 births 1869 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh British chemists Scottish non-fiction writers