William MacArthur (British Army officer)


Sir William Porter MacArthur, KCB was an Irish British Army officer and doctor. He served as Commandant of the Royal Army Medical College from 1935 to 1938, and Director General Army Medical Services from 1938 to 1941. His specialism as a doctor was tropical medicine and he served as President of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from 1959 to 1961.

Early life

MacArthur was born on 11 March 1884, in Belmont, Belfast. He studied medicine at Queen's University Belfast. He graduated in 1908 and began his year of house officer rotations at the Royal Victoria Hospital.

Military career

In 1908, MacArthur was commissioned into the Royal Army Medical Corps, British Army. In 1911, he completed his Doctor of Medicine degree and he was posted to Mauritius as a specialist sanitary officer. He was promoted to captain on 30 July 1912. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in 1913. He returned to the United Kingdom with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. During the war he served at the School of Hygiene.
He served as Commandant of the Royal Army Medical College from 1935 to 1938. He then served as Director General Army Medical Services from 1938 to 1941. He was therefore head of all the British Army medical units for the first years of the Second Worlds War.
He retired from the British Army in 1941.

Personal life

MacArthur had two sons; the youngest of which was Ian MacArthur, a Conservative politician and Member of Parliament.

Honours and decorations

In the 1938 New Year Honours, MacArthur was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath. In the 1939 King's Birthday Honours, he was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.