William Porter MacArthur

Lieutenant-General Sir William Porter MacArthur, (11 March 1884 – 30 July 1964) was an Irish-born British Army officer and medical doctor. He served as Commandant of the Royal Army Medical College from 1935 to 1938, and Director General Army Medical Services from 1938 to 1941. His specialism as a medical doctor was tropical medicine and he served as president of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from 1959 to 1961.

Early life The son of John Porter MacArthur and Margaret Rainey MacArthur , MacArthur was born on 11 March 1884, He attended Bangor Grammar School and studied medicine at Queen's College, Belfast. He was confirmed as a lieutenant in July 1910 and earned a diploma in public health at the University of Oxford in the same year. and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in 1913. On 16 September he became Deputy Director General of the Army Medical Services a role in which he served until 1941.

Personal life While stationed in Mauritius, MacArthur married Eugenie Therese Antelme in 1914. They had two sons; the youngest of which was Ian MacArthur, a Conservative politician and Member of Parliament.

Honours and decorations For his service on the Western Front, MacArthur was mentioned in despatches in November 1915 and made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order on 1 January 1916. Following the war, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on 3 June 1919. In the 1938 New Year Honours, MacArthur was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB). In the 1939 King's Birthday Honours, he was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB).

MacArthur was awarded honorary Doctorates of Science from both Queen's University Belfast in 1935 and University of Oxford in 1949.