James McGrigor

Sir James McGrigor, 1st Baronet, (9 April 1771 – 2 April 1858) was a Scottish physician, military surgeon and botanist, considered to be the man largely responsible for the creation of the Royal Army Medical Corps. He served as Rector of the University of Aberdeen.

Early life

McGrigor was the son of Colquhoun McGrigor, a clothing merchant from Aberdeen, and his wife Anne Grant. McGrigor was born in Cromdale, Inverness-shire, and educated at Aberdeen Grammar School for five years, and graduated from the University of Aberdeen in 1788. He received medical training at the University of Edinburgh beginning in September 1789.

Spain and Portugal

In 1811, he was appointed Surgeon-General for the Duke of Wellington's army in Spain and Portugal during the Peninsular Wars (1808–14).

Director-General

McGrigor returned to Britain before the Battle of Waterloo, and was knighted (1814). He went on to serve as Director-General of the Army Medical Service (1815–51) and did much to reform that department. (He was succeeded in that post by Andrew Smith, who had at one time been McGrigor's Special Assistant since 1830.)

In 1821 McGrigor was elected the first President of the Medico-Botanical Society of London, established by Dr John Frost to catalogue medicinal plants. He served this role until 1828 when he was succeeded by Earl Stanhope.

McGrigor introduced the stethoscope in 1821, set up field hospitals for those injured in action, and generally improved the standards of cleanliness and hygiene. Sir James was created a Baronet on 30 September 1831, and was appointed a Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in 1850.