CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Thomas J. Mackie

Scottish bacteriologist (1888–1955)

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 7, 2024
Entity authorityQ7791176 ↗
Source-derived summary

Thomas Jones Mackie CBE FRSE LLD (5 June 1888 – 6 October 1955) was a noted Scottish bacteriologist; Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Edinburgh; and author of medical research textbooks.

Life

He was born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, the son of James Mackie.

He received his education at the Hamilton Academy from which he attended the University of Glasgow, graduating MB, Ch.B with honours in 1910 and being awarded the Brunton Memorial Prize as the most distinguished student of his year.

Following posts as house-surgeon and house-physician in Glasgow Western Infirmary Mackie attained a Carnegie Scholarship in the department of pathology, attracted to the laboratory by Professor Sir Robert Muir. Taking the Oxford D.P.H., he worked as an assistant in the Bland-Sutton Institute of Pathology at the Middlesex Hospital until, on outbreak of the First World War in 1914, as a Territorial he was attached to the RAMC (Royal Army Medical Corps) as an officer, serving mainly in the Middle East, and was appointed to the command of the Central Bacteriological Laboratory in Alexandria, Egypt, this leading in 1918 to his appointment to the Werner-Beit chair of bacteriology in the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

In 1923, Mackie was offered the chair of bacteriology in the University of Edinburgh, a post he held for the next 32 years during which he also co-authored, A Handbook of Bacteriology (1938) (with J. E. McCartney) and A Textbook of Bacteriology (eleventh edition, 1949) (with C. H. Browning).

In 1926, he was elected a member of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh. In 1928, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Sir James Alfred Ewing, George Barger, Francis Gibson Baily, and James Hartley Ashworth.

Mackie served as an advisor to many organisations, including appointments as honorary bacteriologist and senior consultant in Bacteriology, and member of the Board of Management Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh; member of the South-eastern Regional Hospital Board; council member, the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine; and member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Department of Health for Scotland (and chairman of the Infectious Diseases Subcommittee).

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Thomas J. Mackie” as scottish bacteriologist (1888–1955). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1888, 1955, 1910, 1914—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1888-06-05. The account is most persuasive where Thomas, Mackie and Scottish can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as scottish bacteriologist (1888–1955). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 7, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q7791176. VIAF identifies the subject as 15167578. The Library of Congress control number is n83318802. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1888, 1955, 1910 and 1914.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Thomas J. Mackie”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Thomas J. Mackie primary sources, Thomas J. Mackie archive and Thomas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Thomas J. Mackie”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Thomas J. Mackie” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.