Alexander Morison McAldowie


Dr Alexander Morison McAldowie FRSE was a Scottish physician, folklorist and ornithologist. As an author his topics are diverse, and he wrote in all three fields, being known either as Alex McAldowie or A M McAldowie.

Life

He was born on 16 May 1852 in Aberdeen the son of John McAldowie.
He studied Medicine at Aberdeen University and graduated MB ChM with highest honours in 1875. He became Assistant Surgeon at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. He then moved south to England to be House Surgeon at the Royal Surrey County Hospital. Finally he was Consulting Physician at the North Staffordshire Infirmary.
In 1887 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were James Gregg Smith, John Charles Ogilvie Will, Robert Gray and John Gray McKendrick.
He lived most of his later life in Stoke-on-Trent, where he was a leading member of the North Staffordshire Field Club, then one of the largest and most active such societies in the British Isles.
He died on 4 September 1926.

Publications

McAldowie also contributed to the journal Folklore in the 1890s, mainly on the topic of possible survivals of witchcraft superstitions.