View source for William MacCormac

{{Short description|19th-century Anglo-Irish surgeon}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox medical person
| name        = Sir William MacCormac, 1st Baronet
| image       = Sir William MacCormac 2.jpg
|imagesize    =  
| caption     = Sir William MacCormac, 1st Baronet
| nickname    =  
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1836|1|17|df=y}}
| birth_name  = William MacCormac
| birth_place = [[Belfast]], Ireland
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1901|12|4|1836|1|17|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Bath, Somerset]], England
| genre       =
| movement    =
| website     =
| spouse      =  Katherine Maria Charters
| signature   =
| education   = Royal Armagh School, [[Queen's University Belfast|Queen's University]]
| profession  = [[Surgeon]]
}}
[[File:William MacCormac Vanity Fair 1 October 1896.jpg|right|thumb|McCormac caricatured for [[Vanity Fair (British magazine)|Vanity Fair]], 1896]]
[[File:Sir William MacCormac.jpg|thumb|Bust of Sir William MacCormac by Alfred Drury]]
[[File:WilliamMacCormacKensalGreen01.jpg|thumb|Funerary monument, Kensal Green Cemetery, London]]
'''Sir William MacCormac, 1st Baronet''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|sep=,|KCB|KCVO}} (17 January 1836{{snd}}4 December 1901) was a notable [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] [[surgery|surgeon]] during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. MacCormac was a strong advocate of the antiseptic surgical methods proposed by [[Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister|Joseph Lister]] and he served in conflicts such as the [[Boer War]]. An advocate and pioneer of the [[Royal Army Medical Corps]], MacCormac was perhaps the most decorated surgeon in Britain and he served as Serjeant Surgeon to [[Edward VII]].

==Early life and background==
William MacCormac was born in [[Belfast]], Ireland, the son of Dr [[Henry MacCormac (physician)|Henry MacCormac]], a notable Irish physician, and his wife Mary MacCormac (née Newsam), the daughter of a prominent [[Anglo-Irish]] family. Dr. Henry MacCormac was a well traveled physician and a lifelong proponent of the "open air theory" that stated that fresh air was conducive in order to prevent illnesses.

The [[MacCormac family of County Armagh, Northern Ireland|MacCormac family]] was originally from [[County Armagh]] and descended from Cornelius MacCormac, a high-ranking Irish naval officer.

==Education==
MacCormac studied medicine and surgery at Belfast, [[Dublin]] and [[Paris]], and graduated in arts, medicine and surgery at the [[Queen's University, Belfast]], in which he afterwards became an examiner in surgery.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=205}}

==Career==
He began practice in Belfast, where he became surgeon to the General Hospital, but left it for [[London]] on his marriage in 1861 to Miss Katherine M. Charters.  In the [[Franco-Prussian War]] of 1870 he was surgeon-in-chief to the [[British ambulances in the Franco-Prussian War|Anglo-American Ambulance]], and was present at [[Battle of Sedan|Sedan]] and he also went through the Turco-Servian War of 1876. He became in this way an authority on gunshot wounds, and besides being highly successful as a surgeon was a very popular in society, his magnificent physique and temperament making him a notable and attractive personality.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|pp=205–206}}

In 1881, he was appointed assistant-surgeon at [[St Thomas' Hospital]], London and for twenty year continued his work here as a surgeon, lecturer and consulting surgeon.  In 1881, he acted as honorary secretary-general of the International Medical Congress in London and was knighted for his services.  In 1883 he was elected member of the council of college of surgeons and in 1887 a member of the court of examiners; in 1893 he delivered the Bradshaw lecture and in 1896 was elected president, being reelected to this office in 1897, 1998, 1899, and 1900 (the centenary year of the college). In 1897, he was created a baronet, and appointed surgeon in ordinary to the [[Prince of Wales]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=206}} His services were required the following year, when the Prince had an accident to his knee. MacCormac subsequently was appointed [[Royal Victorian Order|Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]] (KCVO) in September 1898. In 1899, he was Hunterian Orator.

After the outbreak of the [[Second Boer War]] in October 1899, MacCormac volunteered to go out to [[South Africa]] as a consulting surgeon to the forces, and from November 1899 to March 1900 he saw much active service both in [[Cape Colony]] and [[KwaZulu-Natal Province|Natal]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=206}} He accompanied [[Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts|Lord Roberts]] on his visit to [[Kimberley, Northern Cape|Kimberley]] after a [[Siege of Kimberley|siege]] of that city had been lifted in February 1900, and the following month visited [[Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal|Ladysmith]] when that city was [[Siege of Ladysmith|relieved from a siege]]. He left South Africa on board the German liner ''Kaiser'' in mid-March 1900.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Latest intelligence – Sir W. MacCormac|date=10 March 1900 |page=7 |issue=36086}}</ref> His assistance to the British war effort was acknowledged on his return when he was appointed a Knight Commander of the [[Order of the Bath]] (KCB) for his services.<ref name=LG27306>{{London Gazette |issue=27306 |date=19 April 1901 |page=2698}}</ref>

==Later life==
In February 1901, he was appointed honorary sergeant-surgeon to the new King [[Edward VII]],<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27289 |date=26 February 1901 |page=1414 }}</ref> and in June 1901 he received an honorary doctorate ([[Legum Doctor|LL.D]]) from the [[University of Glasgow]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-glasgow-university-jubilee/131294008/ |date=14 June 1901 |title=Glasgow University Jubilee |page=10 |newspaper=[[The Times]] |publication-place=London |issue=36481 |access-date=2024-01-05 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> But, during 1898 he had suffered from prolonged illness and perhaps too much strain on his strength, for he died on 4 December 1901, somewhat suddenly at [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=206}}<ref name=TTObituary>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Death of Sir William MacCormac |date=5 December 1901 |page=11 |issue=36630}}</ref> He is buried with his wife, Katherine Maria MacCormac, at [[Kensal Green Cemetery]], London.

==Personal life and family==
In 1861, he married Katherine Maria Charters (1835–1923), daughter of John Charters of Belfast. Although MacCormac had no issue from this union, he had numerous distinguished relatives. MacCormac's nephew, [[Henry MacCormac (dermatologist)|Dr. Henry MacCormac]] (1879{{snd}}12 December 1950), was a successful [[dermatologist]] and the father of Sir [[Richard MacCormac]], a notable [[modernist]] architect and the founder of [[MJP Architects]].

Dr. William MacCormac was also the [[Easmon family|uncle]] of [[Sierra Leone Creole people|Sierra Leonean]] physician, Dr. [[John Farrell Easmon]]. When MacCormac served as a house surgeon to [[Queen Victoria]], he invited Easmon to serve as his understudy due to the latter's distinguished academic career. However, Easmon turned down MacCormac's offer and position, and instead chose to serve as a medical doctor in [[Freetown, Sierra Leone]], and the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]]. Easmon was eventually promoted to the position of [[Chief Medical Officer]] of the Gold Coast in 1893.

==Published works==
Besides treaties on surgical operations, antiseptic surgery, and numerous contributions to the medical journals, MacCormac was the author of works under the [[Red Cross]] and of an interesting volume commemorating the centenary of the [[Royal College of Surgeons of England]] in 1900.  The latter contains biographical notices of all the masters and presidents up to that date.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=206}}

==Honours==

'''British orders and decorations'''
*'''KCVO''': Knight Commander of the [[Royal Victorian Order]] – ''1898''
*'''KCB''': Knight Commander of the [[Order of the Bath]] – ''29 November 1900'' – for services during the [[Second Boer War]]<ref name=LG27306 />

'''Foreign orders and decorations'''<ref name=TTObituary />
*{{flagicon|France}}: Officer of the [[Legion of Honour]]
*{{flagicon|Denmark}}: Commander of the [[Order of the Dannebrog]]
*{{flagicon|Kingdom of Italy}}: Commander of the [[Order of the Crown of Italy]]
*{{flagicon|Kingdom of Serbia}}: Commander of the [[Order of Takovo]]
*{{flagicon|Kingdom of Prussia}}: [[Order of the Crown (Prussia)|Order of the Crown]]
*{{flagicon|Sweden}}: [[Order of the Polar Star]]
*{{flagicon|Kingdom of Portugal}}: [[Order of Saint James of the Sword]]
*{{flagicon|Kingdom of Bavaria}}: Ritterkreuz of one of the Orders
*{{flagicon|Spain}}: [[Crosses of Military Merit (Spain)|Order of Military Merit]]
*{{flagicon|Ottoman Empire}}: [[Order of Medjidie]]

==Arms==
{{Emblem table
| name = William MacCormac
| image = <!--ExampleCoatofArms.svg -->
| imagesize = 
| crest = An arm, coupled, grasping three tilting spears, all proper.
| escutcheon = Per pale Azure and Sable, a lion rampant, Or, holding in the dexter fore paw a sword, proper, pomel and hilt of the third, two flaunches of the last, each charged with a lamp suspended by chains, proper.
| motto = ''Sine timore'' ("Without fear")
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
'''Attribution:'''
* {{EB1911|wstitle=MacCormac, Sir William|volume=17|pages=205–206}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{wikisource author-inline}}
* [http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cats/6/7374.htm Biography] (King's College, London, archives)
* {{Cite ODNB|id=34690|title=MacCormac, Sir William, baronet|author=D'A. Power; revised by Michael Worboys}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg|uk-bt}}
{{s-new|Creation}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Baronet]]<br />'''(of Harley Street)''' | years=1897–1901}}
{{s-non|reason=Extinct}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maccormac, William}}
[[Category:1836 births]]
[[Category:1901 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century British surgeons]]
[[Category:19th-century Irish medical doctors]]
[[Category:Medical doctors from Belfast]]
[[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery]]
[[Category:Alumni of Queen's University Belfast]]
[[Category:MacCormac family (County Armagh)|William]]
[[Category:Physicians of St Thomas' Hospital]]