John McVail

McVail was born on 22 October 1849 in Kilmarnock the second son of James McVail and his wife, . His older brother was David McVail (later Sir David McVail).

He was educated at Kilmarnock Academy then studied medicine first at the University of Glasgow and then at the University of St Andrews graduating with a MB Chb in 1873. He became a general practitioner in Kilmarnock, and gained his doctorate (MD) in 1875.{{cite ODNB |title=McVail, John Christie (1849–1926), physician and public health administrator |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-59859 |date=2004 |access-date=16 June 2024 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/59859}} Inspired by Henry Littlejohn in Edinburgh he developed an interest in public health and the application of statistics to public health. In 1885, he gained a Diploma in Public Health from the University of Cambridge and succeeded Dr Borland as Medical Officer of Health for the Kilmarnock area also becoming a Physician at Kilmarnock Infirmary. In 1891, he left Kilmarnock to become Medical Officer of Health for Stirlingshire and Dunbartonshire. From 1887 he was President of the Sanitary Association of Scotland.British Medical Journal: obituaries 7 August 1926

In 1890, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposers being Joseph Bell, Andrew Wilson, Andrew Douglas Maclagan, and John Brown Buist. He resigned from the Society in 1908.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=12 August 2017|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}} In 1922, the Epidemiology section of the Royal Society of Medicine awarded him the Jenner Medal.{{Cite book |title=The History of The Royal Society of Medicine |last=Hunting |first=Penelope |publisher=Royal Society of Medicine Press |year=2002 |isbn=1-85315-497-0 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hFNrAAAAMAAJ |chapter=7. The first sections at the Society |pages=231–232}}{{cite journal|url=http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2315950/pdf/brmedj06251-0031.pdf|title=Jenner Centenary Celebrations|volume=1|issue=3240|pages=203–206|journal= British Medical Journal|pmc=2315950|year=1923|pmid=20771001|doi=10.1136/bmj.1.3240.203}}

In 1922, he retired to Golders Green in London and then moved to Torquay on the south coast of England where he died on 29 July 1926.British Medical Journal: obituaries 7 August 1926

In 1877 he married Jessie Schoolbred Rowat. They had two sons and two daughters. His son John Borland McVail married the daughter of his friend John Glaister.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

• [https://archive.org/details/b21357079/page/n3 Vaccination Vindicated: Being an Answer to the Leading Anti-Vaccinators] (1887)
• [https://archive.org/details/b24399267 Dr. C. Creighton, M.D. and Vaccination: A Review] (1889)
• Report to the Royal Commission on Poor Laws (1918)
• {{cite journal |title=The Milroy Lectures; On Half a Century of Smallpox and Vaccination|journal=British Medical Journal |date=5 April 1919 |volume=1 |issue=3040 |pages=408–412 |pmc=2341039 |issn=0007-1447 |last1=McVail |first1=J. C. |doi=10.1136/bmj.1.3040.408 |pmid=20769438 }}

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Category:1849 births

Category:1926 deaths

Category:People from Kilmarnock

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Category:19th-century Scottish people

Category:19th-century Scottish medical doctors

Category:20th-century Scottish medical doctors

Category:Vaccination advocates

Category:Recipients of the Jenner Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine