William Alexander Mackinnon (British Army officer)

Lieutenant General Sir William Alexander Mackinnon KCB (27 June 1830 – 28 October 1897) was Director-General of the British Army Medical Service (1889–1896).

Sir William Alexander Mackinnon
William Alexander Mackinnon in the 1880s
Born	(1830-06-27)27 June 1830 Skye, Scotland
Died	28 October 1897(1897-10-28) (aged 67) London, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1853–1896
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	Director General Army Medical Services
Battles/wars	Crimean War New Zealand Wars Third Anglo-Ashanti War
Awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Legion of Honour (France)

Mackinnon was born in Strath, Isle of Skye, Scotland. He studied medicine at the University of Glasgow and University of Edinburgh, graduating from Edinburgh in 1851 and receiving an FRCS qualification in 1873. In 1853, he enlisted to the 42nd Regiment of Foot as assistant-surgeon and took part in the Crimean War in Alma, Balaklava and Sevastopol, as well as in the New Zealand Maori war (1863–66). Afterwards he served as assistant professor of surgery at Netly (1866–73); Senior Medical Officer of Sir Garnet Wolseley’s Ashanti Force (1873–74); Principal Medical Officer at Aldershot, Colchester, Hong Kong, and at Malta (1874–82); Head of the medical Branch of the Director-General’s Office in London (1882–87); and Principal Medical Officer at Gibraltar (1887–89).[1][2]

After being knighted in the 1891 Birthday Honours,[3] Mackinnon served as an Honorary Surgeon to the Queen. He received an honorary LLD from the University of Glasgow in 1891 and donated £2000 to the university for scholarships.[1] Mackinnon retired on 7 May 1896 and died next year in London.[2]