Thomas Goodall Nasmyth


Dr Thomas Goodall Nasmyth FRSE DL JP DPH was a Scottish physician, medical author and historian. He served as Medical Officer of Health for Fife, Kinross and Clackmannanshire. He was one of the first to link Bovine Tuberculosis to the human form, later leading to the widespread use of pasteurisation of milk.

Life

He was born in Auchterderran in Fife on 28 February 1855 the son of Isabella Chisholm and her husband, James A. Nasmyth. He graduated MB ChB from the University of Edinburgh in 1876. In 1886 he gained a Diploma in Public Health from the University of Cambridge. He gained his DSc from the University of Edinburgh in 1887
In 1887 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Dr John Chiene, Sir Thomas Grainger Stewart, Peter Denny and Dr Kirk Duncanson. He resigned from the Society in 1908.
In 1889 he became Fife's first Medical Officer of Health and took up residence in Cupar. During World War I he oversaw medical issues at HM Factory, Gretna, Scotland's largest explosives factory.
In 1916 he was living at 27 Palmerston Place in Edinburgh's West End and also noted as having property in Newmills, Fife. He retired to Edinburgh and died there on 16 January 1937. He is buried in Dean Cemetery. The grave lies on the main east–west path of the first northern extension, slightly to the south-west of the central obelisk. He is buried with his wife, Violet Nicol Nasmyth.

Publications