He graduated in 1877[2] having studied under notable medical figures such as Sir Joseph Lister, James Spence, surgeon and John Gray McKendrick, physiologist.
Soon afterwards, he was promoted to Resident Medical Officer of floating hospitals created from old warships docked at Greenwich and used to house patients during a severe smallpox epidemic.
His work here in identifying death rates in the Hebrides was published in the Edinburgh Medical Journal in 1885 and was considered in the Commission's investigations into the conditions of crofters and cottars in the Highlands and Islands.
'[1] In 1889 McNeill was awarded the Diploma of Public Health by the University of Cambridge and the following year he was appointed as the County Medical Officer for Argyll, the first to hold the position.
He continued to publish including articles in the Journal of the Caledonian Medical Society, of which he was a founder member, and to present papers at public health conferences.
[5] As he had done before it, McNeill continued his work throughout and after World War I, and at his death in 1924, the Oban Times' obituary stated, 'Up to the last he was zealous and active in his appointed work…He was painstakingly accurate and conscientious in carrying out his public duties…He will be remembered as a pioneer and as an example to those who follow in his foot-steps.