Dugald Christie

Dugald Christie was born in 1855 in Glencoe, Argyll, the ninth and youngest child of Malcolm and Janet Christie.

Schooled predominantly in the Gaelic language, in 1870 he moved to Glasgow, where he served an apprenticeship at a drapery business, as well as showing interest in evangelical life. Subsequent work with the poor fed a desire to be a medical missionary.

Christie obtained Licentiateship of The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh via the Double Qualification scheme in 1881 and was appointed superintendent of the Cowgate Dispensary and Medical Mission by the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society the same year.

In 1882 he was sent to Mukden (now Shenyang) in northeastern China as a medical missionary and opened the Shengjing Clinic. For the next 30 years Christie worked towards opening a full medical school; as funds became available (from Scottish churches, the Chinese government and local people) the clinic became a hospital and in March 1912 Christie became the first Principal of the Mukden Medical College. It was the first foreign medical college to be opened in northeastern China.

Elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1911, Christie retired in 1923 and died in Edinburgh on 2 December 1936. He is buried with his second wife, Elizabeth Inglis (1855–1952), in the north-east section of the Grange Cemetery.