David Waterston
| David Waterston | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Born | 1871 | ||||
| Died | 1942 | ||||
| Residence | University of St Andrews [A63] | ||||
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1922.01.17 proposed by D. MacRitchie, seconded by E.N. Fallaize, F.C. Shrubsall
Notes From Elsewhere
Prof David Waterston OBE FRSE (1871–1942) was a 20th-century British surgeon and anatomist. He was the Bute Professor of Anatomy at St Andrews University.
Waterston was one of the first to debunk the Piltdown Man hoax, correctly pointing out that the jaw and skull did not match correctly
He was born in the Govan district of Glasgow on 25 August 1871 the son of Rev Richard Waterston (1830-1892) of Union Church on Morrison Street, and his wife Isabella Anderson. The family lived at 2 Park Grove on the Paisley Road.[2] His father moved to St Paul's Church in Dundee in 1878.[3] Ironically the family then lived at 2 Park Place in Dundee (very similar to their Glasgow address).[4]
He studied for a general degree at Edinburgh University (the home town of his parents) graduating MA around 1890 then studied Medicine under Sir William Turner graduating MB ChB in 1895. He then began lecturing in Anatomy at the university alongside David Hepburn. He gained his doctorate (MD) in 1898 and won the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh's Gold Medal in 1900.[5] In 1900 he was living at 16 Merchiston Terrace in west Edinburgh.[6]
In 1901 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Sir William Turner, Ramsay Heatley Traquair, Robert Munro, and David Hepburn.[7]
In 1909 he was still working in Edinburgh and lived at 1 Coates Place in the West End of the city, a very large terraced townhouse in the West End of the City.[8]
He was Professor of Anatomy at King's College, London from around 1910. During this period he came to national fame in 1913 as the first person to discredit the Piltdown Man hoax which had been made public in December 1912.[9]
In 1914 he became the Bute Professor of Anatomy at St Andrews University in 1914, succeeding Prof James Musgrove.[10]
He died on 4 September 1942.[11] When he died there was an inter-regnum in the Bute chair due to the Second World War. He was eventually succeeded in 1946 by Prof Robert Walmsley.
He was married to Isabel Amy Simsom. Their children included Brigadier Surgeon Richard E Waterston FRCS and David James Waterston FRCSE.[12]
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Membership correspondence: Watuston, D.