He was born in
Dunkeld on 17 June 1789. He was educated at Dunkeld Grammar School. He studied medicine at St Andrews and Edinburgh but received his doctorate (MD) from
Aberdeen University. He was licensed as a surgeon by the
Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. In 1808 (aged 19) he began work as a Surgeon for the
East India Company based in Bombay in India rising to be Head of the Medical Board for the Bombay district. He returned to Scotland in 1839 and was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1841. His proposer was
Robert Christison. In 1844 he was elected a member of the
Harveian Society of Edinburgh. In
Edinburgh he lived and practised from 20 Melville Street in the West End of the city. He appears to also have had property in
Ross & Cromarty and was an elder of the Free Church of Scotland in
Tain. He also retained property at Birnam near Dunkeld. He had a seizure in September 1854 which left him paralysed. He died at Canaan Park (a villa he purchased in 1860) in south Edinburgh on Christmas Day 25 December 1863. ==Family==