Sir John William McNee FRSE DSO (1887-1984) was a 20th century British pathologist and bacteriologist.

Life

He was born on 17 December 1887 in

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

in north

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotl ...

(now part of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

the only son of John McNee. The family moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in his childhood and he was educated there at the Royal Grammar School. He then returned to Scotland to study Medicine at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, graduating MB ChB in 1909. He then began lecturing in Pathology at the university under Sir Robert Muir. In 1911 he was awarded a McCunn Scholarship and with a further Carnegie Research Fellowship in 1912 he travelled to

Freiburg University The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemb ...

in Germany to do postgraduate studies. Returning in 1914 he received his doctorate (MD) plus both the Bellahouston Gold Medal and John Hunter Gold Medal. In the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he served as a Major in the Royal Army Medical Corps in France, being Mentioned in Dispatches. He did important work relating to both

Trench fever Trench fever (also known as "five-day fever", "quintan fever" ( la, febris quintana), and "urban trench fever") is a moderately serious disease transmitted by body lice. It infected armies in Flanders, France, Poland, Galicia, Italy, Salonika, Ma ...

and

Gas gangrene Gas gangrene (also known as clostridial myonecrosis and myonecrosis) is a bacterial infection that produces tissue gas in gangrene. This deadly form of gangrene usually is caused by '' Clostridium perfringens'' bacteria. About 1,000 cases of gas ...

, and on war nephritis and chlorine poisoning, receiving the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

(DSO) for his work. The research included probably the first autopsies of gas-poisoned soldiers on the battlefront. He was also awarded the Order of Aviz. After the war he moved to University College Hospital in London, working under T. R. Elliot. In 1924 he obtained a Rockefeller Scholarship and went to

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, USA, as an Assistant Professor studying coronary artery thrombosis, becoming an expert in this field. On his return to Britain he was offered the Chair in Practical Medicine at his alma mater of

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

and accepted this. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

he held the unique title of Surgeon Rear Admiral to the Royal Navy for Scotland and he Western Approaches. In 1939 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were John Walton,

Thomas Murray MacRobert Thomas Murray MacRobert (4 April 1884, in Dreghorn, Ayrshire – 1 November 1962, in Glasgow) was a Scottish mathematician. He became professor of mathematics at the University of Glasgow and introduced the MacRobert E function, a generalisation ...

Edward Hindle Edward Hindle FRS FRSE FIB FRGS FRPSG (21 March 1886–22 January 1973) was a British biologist and entomologist who was Regius Professor of Zoology at the University of Glasgow from 1935 to 1943. He specialised in the study of parasites. ...

and

George Barger George Barger FRS FRSE FCS LLD (4 April 1878 – 5 January 1939) was a British chemist. Life He was born to an English mother, Eleanor Higginbotham, and Gerrit Barger, a Dutch engineer in Manchester, England. He was educated at Utrecht and ...

. He served as president of the British Medical Association in 1954. He died on 26 January 1984 aged 96.

Family

In 1929 he married a medical researcher, Geraldine Le Bas (d.1975). They had no children.

Publications

*''On Lipoid Degeneration of the Kidney'' (1922)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McNee, John William 1887 births 1984 deaths Medical doctors from Glasgow Alumni of the University of Glasgow Academics of the University of Glasgow Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish pathologists British cardiologists Scottish bacteriologists