He attended secondary school at Perth Academy and was educated further at Andersonian University, Glasgow.
[3] He married Jessie McWhannell (née Morgan) 12 March 1979 at All Saints Church, Petersham, New South Wales.
[10] In February 1888 he was in Sydney staying at the home of his mother-in-law receiving medical treatments for kidney disease and dropsy in his feet.
[13] His wife Jessie remained in Sydney and died at Strathfield on 21 August 1927; she was buried with her husband in Waverley Cemetery.
[13][14][15] McWhannell was described as a man of "shrewd commensense and quiet but firm expression of the opinions he held".