Born at
Ballymoney,
County Antrim, 26 April 1726, he was the son of
Robert McBride, Presbyterian minister there, and brother of
John MacBride; his mother's name before marriage was Boyd. He was educated at the village school, and apprenticed to a local surgeon. Macbride was for a short time surgeon's mate on a hospital ship and surgeon in the navy, and he acquired an acquaintance with the diseases of seamen which he afterwards turned to advantage. After the peace (1748) he attended lectures on anatomy by
Alexander Monro primus in Edinburgh, and, going to London, he heard also
William Hunter, on the same subject, and
William Smellie on midwifery. In 1749 he returned to Ballymoney, but moved to Dublin in 1751. He joined, and read papers before, the Medico-Philosophical Society there (established in 1756), and after the death of Charles Smith in 1762 he became its secretary. Until 1764, when the publication of
Experimental Essays made his reputation, Macbride had only a small medical practice. The
University of Glasgow created him M.D. 27 November 1764, and he prospered. In the winter of 1776–7 he began lecturing on medicine in his own house. In December 1767 Macbride made a discovery in the art of
tanning, advocating the use of
lime water in the process. For this he was, on 31 March 1768, made an honorary member of the
Dublin Society, which awarded him a silver medal on 14 April following. The
Society of Arts of London subsequently gave him a gold medal. On 14 November 1769 he petitioned the
Irish House of Commons for aid in developing his invention, and on 19 Nov. a committee was appointed, which reported favourably; no support seems, however, to have been given. In 1777 Macbride sent over to England by Dr. Morton what was said to be the original of the
solemn league and covenant, which he had inherited from his grandfather. In his last years he suffered poor health. He died at his house in Cavendish Row, Dublin, on 28 December 1778; he was buried in St. Audoen's Church there. ==Works==