Dr Peter Laird McKinlay FRSE FSS (1901 – 8 December 1972) was a Scottish medical statistician. His report on the effects of milk on schoolchildren brought about the introduction of Free School Milk in British Schools from the Education Act 1944.

Life

He was born at Radnor Park in

Dunbartonshire Dunbartonshire ( gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann) or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders Pe ...

on 11 June 1901. He was educated at Clydebank High School. He studied 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 1923. He received a Diploma in Public Health in 1925 and his doctorate (MD) in 1927. He then began work as a medical statistician for the Department of Health. In 1936 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were

Anderson Gray McKendrick Lt Col Anderson Gray McKendrick DSc FRSE (8 September 1876 – 30 May 1943) was a Scottish military physician and epidemiologist who pioneered the use of mathematical methods in epidemiology. Irwin (see below) commented on the quality of his wo ...

William Ogilvy Kermack William Ogilvy Kermack FRS FRSE FRIC (26 April 1898 – 20 July 1970) was a Scottish biochemist. He made mathematical studies of epidemic spread and established links between environmental factors and specified diseases. He is noteworthy for ...

, Edward B. Ross and

William Frederick Harvey Lieutenant-Colonel William Frederick Harvey Order of the Indian Empire, CIE Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, FRCPE Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE (1873-11 September 1948) was a Scottish expert on public health, serving fo ...

. From 1930 to 1960 he was Superintendent of Statistics at General Register House, succeeding James Craufurd Dunlop. 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 served with the Royal Army Medical Corps. He died at Strachur in western Scotland on 8 December 1972.

Publications

See In 1929 he contributed to the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

’s report on Infant Mortality *''Milk Consumption and the Growth of School Children'' (1930) *''Maternal Morbidity and Mortality in Scotland'' (1935)

References

1901 births 1972 deaths People from Aberdeen Scottish electrical engineers Academics of the University of Strathclyde Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh {{Scotland-med-bio-stub