He was educated at Dunbar Grammar School then studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh.
He served on the ships "Marquess of Camden" and the "Duke of Argyll" and made journeys to St Helena, Bombay, Calcutta and Ceylon.
[1] In 1837 he became Assistant Surgeon to the Madras section of the EIC and from there was moved to Ootacamund in the Neilgherry Hills to run a sanitorium there.
Together with his friend Dr Donald Beith he also attended medical night-classes, purely out of academic interest, to keep his knowledge up to date.
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