A key figure in the British investigation of the bones and objects found by Gallagher was Dr. Duncan Campbell McEwan MacPherson MB ChB. As the Acting Central Medical Authority, he was the senior medical officer in the Western Pacific High commission and, presumably, had the best credentials, but the job of evaluating the skeleton was given to Dr. David Hoodless. Three doctors knew about the bones. MacPherson, Hoodless, and Kingsley Steenson MB, ChB. We have a good handle on Hoodless's medical training. Steenson graduated from Otago medical School in New Zealand. I've been trying to pin down MacPherson's background and it's getting both puzzling and interesting.
According to his WPHC Service History, he was born in 1900. ( I remember reading somewhere that he was born in Oban, Scotland but now I can't recall where I read that. It made an impression on me because I know Oban, a lovely town on Loch Linnhe in Argyll.) He first appears in the WPHC Service History on Sept. 20, 1929 as Medical Officer for the Gilbert & Ellice Islands Colony. His Service History doesn't mention where he got his medical degrees but I wondered if he might have gone to the University of Edinburgh Medical School. The director of the medical school was kind enough to pass my inquiry to the Student Records Officer who did some research. MacPherson did not turn up in Edinburgh's records but she did find an entry in the London Gazette of July 1, 1924 which lists military appointments and promotions. Under "Royal Army Ordnance Corps" there is an entry:
"52nd (Lowland) Divl. Ord. Coy. - Cadet Duncan Campbell McEwan McPherson, from Glasgow Univ. Contgt., Sen. Div., O.T.C., to be Lt. 2nd July 1924"
Prof. Neil Turner at Edinburgh explained, "OTC = Officer Training Corps, a University organisation affiliated to the Services for students aspiring to become officers."
That would be very much like ROTC here in the States.
I interpret the London Gazette entry to mean, "Cadet Duncan Campbell McEwan McPherson, from the Glasgow University Contingent, Sen.(?) Division, of the Officer Training Corps has been commissioned a Lieutenant and assigned to the 52nd Lowland Division Ordnance Company effective July 2, 1924"
This has to be our guy. The name is distinctive, the location makes sense, and the year is about right. ("Jock" MacPherson used the traditional highland patronymic "Mac" but Sassenachs (the English) often shorten that to "Mc.")
The puzzling thing is that there is no mention of medical degrees, although being commissioned directly to Lieutenant rather than Subaltern (2nd Lt.) may be a hint. He goes on active duty as a Lieutenant in an Army ordnance company in 1924 and five years later he's a doctor in the Colonial Administrative Service?
I'm going to see what I can find out from Glasgow University.