William Macpherson

Major General Sir William Grant Macpherson, KCMG, CB (1858 – October 1927) was the colonel-commandant of the Royal Army Medical Corps, and the author of its official history.

Macpherson, the 3rd son of the Rev. William Macpherson, was born in 1858 at the Manse of Kilmuir Easter in Ross-shire, Scotland.

He received his education at Fettes College, Edinburgh, and subsequently at Edinburgh University, where he graduated in Classics in 1879; M.B., C.M. in 1882. Whilst at Edinburgh he was a boxing champion and a talented gymnast. With the aid of a scholarship he then further studied at Tübingen & Leipzig in Germany, in Medicine, German and Logic.

Having been commissioned into the British Army Medical Service his first Imperial tour of service was in India, from thence to a 5-year spell with the Gibraltar garrison, where along with his military duties he acted as the Rock's Medical Officer for Health. Whilst he was there he also found time to be the Editor of the Gibraltar Chronicle and was active in horse-racing and polo matches.

Returning to England in 1890 he was appointed D.A.D.G., A.M.D.2 at the War Office, a post which he held until 1902. In recognition of services during the Second Boer War, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the South African Honours list published on 26 June 1902.

In 1902 he went on a mission to South Africa in the aftermath of the Boer War to see what lessons could be drawn for the Army Medical Service, his paper: Detailed Reports on Sanitary Conditions relating to the proposed Cantonments & Encampments for the Troops in South Africa was resultant.

In 1904 he was appointed senior medical officer to the North China Command, and during this posting was attached as an observer with the Japanese Army in Manchuria for 2 years during its operations in that region during the Russo-Japanese War. The results of his experiences produced his Medical & Sanitary Reports from Officers attached to the Japanese Forces in the Field.

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