George Mackenzie 1669-1725

George MACKENZIE 1669-1725

Biographical Note

Born in Ross-shire, son of Colin Mackenzie, soldier, himself a younger son of the 2nd Earl of Seaforth. MA King's College, Aberdeen 1682, MD 1696; in between, he spent time studying medicine in Oxford and Paris. He became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1704, and practised as a physician there. In the 1720s he corresponded with Sir Hans Sloane on natural history and he also published a 3-volume history of The lives and characters of the most eminent writers of the Scots nation (1708-22), which had a mixed reception for its accuracy.

Books

Mackenzie used an engraved armorial bookplate (Franks 19280); the extent and disposition of his library is not known. The ODNB notes his compilation of a manuscript history of the Mackenzie of Seaforth family.

Sources

• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903.
• Jackson, Clare. "Mackenzie, George (1669–1725), physician and biographer." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.