MacKeith family history material

Notes, correspondence, copy writings and other material written or compiled by John S. MacKeith on the history of the MacKeith family and in particular of the careers of its many medical practitioners.

1901-2000s

7 files

The seven files in this collection are presented in the order that they were listed by their creator, John S. MacKeith, when he transferred them to the Wellcome Library. The files' original wallets have not been retained, but all text on their labels has been transcribed into the catalogue descriptions.

Presented to the library at Wellcome Collection by John S. MacKeith, November 2015.

The MacKeith family originated in Scotland. Its history as a medical dynasty begins with the brothers Donald (1815-1879) and William (1816-1872), who both qualified as doctors and both moved to southern England, settling in East Sussex. Two sons of Donald studied medicine, but the current dynasty descends from William: three of whose nine children became doctors: William Donald (1856-1892), John (1864-1931) and Alexander (1866-1934). Alexander, in turn, had eleven children from whom all the figures documented in this collection are descended; among his children were Malcolm Henry MacKeith (1895-1942), Norman William MacKeith (1901-1989), Stephen MacKeith (1906-1995), Ronald Charles MacKeith (1908-1977) and Kathleen "Kaye" Scallon née MacKeith (1908-2006). The grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Alexander MacKeith have continued the family's connection to medicine. At the time that this material was compiled, the family had mustered twenty-two medical men and women distributed over five generations.

John Stuart MacKeith (b.1934), compiler of this archive, was educated at Cheltenham Collage and Trinity Hall, Cambridge (where he read Modern Languages). He spent his career in health administration, chiefly in the north of England but also in Hong Kong, and has published extensively in this field. More details of his career can be found in MS.9203.

At Wellcome Collection:

Papers of various members of the MacKeith family occur in the Wellcome Library's holdings:
Norman MacKeith (1901-1989), MS.8011;
Ronald MacKeith (1908-1977), PP/MKH (there are also mentions of him in other collections such as PP/DWW, PP/PRE and PP/SML);
Stephen MacKeith (1906-1995), GC/135/B and GC/206;
John S. MacKeith (b.1934), PP/JMK.
James MacKeith (1938-2007), PP/MCK.