More about John McPherson Johnston

John was one of seven brothers, five of whom served in the armed forces during the Great War, David and Peachy survived and Francis and Walter both died. Both James and William did not serve in the armed forces.

He was educated at Harris Academy, Morgan Academy and won a bursary to attend Dundee High School. He graduated as a doctor from Edinburgh University. He continued his training as a junior doctor in London, latterly at the London Fever Hospital and from that time seems to have developed an interest in infectious diseases and their prevention and cure. He entered the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) with the rank of Lieutenant in 1914 and was promoted to Captain before he was posted overseas in November 1915. His service number was 383350. While training at Tidworth Barracks in Hampshire, just before heading off to war, he married a widowed 28 year old nurse, daughter of a Senior Naval Ensign, Florence Jane Kathleen Palmer (nee Coleman). She was a nurse at Milton Hospital, Portsmouth. They married at St. James Church, Milton, Portsea, Portsmouth on the 6th October 1915. Milton Hospital is very near the dockyard at Portsmouth and John seems to have been training or working there with the RAMC.

His first RAMC posting was to the Military Hospital at Mudros on the island of Lemnos in the Aegean Sea. Mudros was a stopping off point for the Gallipoli/ Dardanelles campaign and would have seen huge numbers of casualties evacuated from Gallipoli. He appears to have arrived at Mudros in early November 1915, just before the evacuation of Gallipoli began on November 15^th 1915. It is not known whether he landed on Gallipoli or whether he worked in the hospitals at Mudros or on the various hospital ships anchored there.

From Mudros he was then posted to Cairo and worked there as a Sanitary Officer with the title of Assistant Medical Officer. He was also Mentioned in Dispatches in 1917.

John contracted Tuberculosis and was discharged from the Army. He was sent to Tor-Na-Dee Sanatorium at Murtle on Deeside to recover. Tor-Na-Dee at that time had a contract with the British Red Cross to provide treatment for TB to military officers. This gave him a life-long interest in Tuberculosis and after the war, having recovered himself from TB and resuming his civilian medical career, he joined the staff and became a TB specialist at Tor-Na-Dee. He was quickly promoted to director of Tor-Na –Dee and wrote a number of papers on TB which were published in leading medical journals.

Following his retirement he moved to Blairgowrie, dying there in 1943.