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William M'Intosh

Scottish physician and marine zoologist (1838-1931)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 17, 2026
Entity authorityQ1332801 ↗
Source-derived summary

William Carmichael M'Intosh LLD (also spelt McIntosh; 10 October 1838, St Andrews – 1 April 1931, St Andrews) was a Scottish physician and marine zoologist. He served as president of the Ray Society, as vice-president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1927–1930), and was awarded the Neill Prize (1865–1868).

Life

He was born in St Andrews on 10 October 1838 the son of Baillie John McIntosh and his wife, Eliza Mitchell. He studied medicine at St Andrews University 1853 to 1857. He was licensed by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1860, as the local licensing body and also gaining an MD for his thesis "Observations and experiments on the carcinus mœnas" from the University of Edinburgh. He then began working at Murray Royal Asylum near Perth, where he remained for three years before moving to the Murthly Asylum nearby in 1863.

McIntosh worked as Medical Superintendent of Murthly for eighteen years, leaving in 1882 to take on a professorship at St Andrews University, reflecting his strong interest and knowledge in Natural History.

In this latter field he gained distinction as a renowned botanist and marine biologist, travelling on HMS Challenger during the Challenger expedition of 1872 to 1876. He was professor of natural history at St Andrews University from 1882 to 1917, succeeded by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson. He was also director of the university museum and was the first director of the university's Gatty Marine Laboratory (founded 1896).

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “William M'Intosh” as scottish physician and marine zoologist (1838-1931). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around William, M'Intosh and Scottish.

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—1838, 1931, 1927, 1930—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1838-10-10. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with William, M'Intosh and Scottish providing the first useful test.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “William M'Intosh”, the useful work is to connect “scottish physician and marine zoologist (1838-1931)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1332801. VIAF identifies the subject as 45082465. The Library of Congress control number is no2016097993. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1838, 1931, 1927 and 1930.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “William M'Intosh” 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.