He was born in
Naas,
County Kildare in central Ireland on 30 November 1829. He came from a long line of doctors. He qualified as a physician and surgeon at
Trinity College Dublin, in Ireland, around 1853. He received his doctorate (MD) in 1859 whilst already occupied as an army surgeon, serving with the
Berkshire Regiment in India. The regiment had been sent to India in 1857 to suppress the
Indian Mutiny. He appears as an Assistant Surgeon in a regimental photograph of the 66th Regiment taken in
Bangalore in 1863. The regiment returned to England in 1865 but was returned to India in 1870. He was promoted to Surgeon Major in 1873. He was retired in 1894 (surgeons were generally retired at 55) and began spending time in Dundee, visiting his daughter, who had set up the first all-female practise in the city. He would have advised her on the foundation of Dundee Women's Hospital in 1897. He moved to
Dundee permanently in 1901. He lived with his wife at 20 Magdalen Yard Road. Ironically his daughter married a few years after he arrived and relocated to
Leith. He is the likely source of the poem "The Battle of Maiwand" by fellow Dundee resident
William McGonagal written in 1899. He later lived (alone apart from his servants) at "The Weisha" a villa on the
Ninewells site. He died on 11 February 1912. He is buried with his wife and daughter in the
Western Cemetery, Dundee. His very distinctive grave, in black polished basalt, bears a palm tree. His house and grounds were later used to build the
Ninewells Hospital. It is not clear if this is a coincidence or a gift. ==Family==