Alexander Ogston (1844-1929) Surgeon and Bacteriologist

Alexander Ogston byG. Fiddes-Watt ABDUA:30123

A student of medicine and surgeon at the University of Aberdeen, Ogston obtained his MD in 1866. He then travelled widely, departing on a European tour to advance his post-graduate training.

With a keen interest in military surgery he assisted during several campaigns, being awarded the Egyptian campaign medal and the Khedive's bronze star. 
He was appointed Junior Surgeon at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in 1866, and became Consultant Surgeon within eighteen years. In 1882 he was appointed Regius Professor in Surgery at Aberdeen University. He is famous for his discovery of Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA, and is credited with introducing the carbolic spray to Aberdeen.

Ogston’s Carbolic Spray

Ogston contributed more than six hundred objects to the Marischal collection. These comprise collections of Scottish medical instruments, objects of local interest and a large range of ethnographic objects from Africa, Asia, South America, Australia and Europe.

Records of all these holdings are made in his ethnography and photograph albums. Some of the objects were collected by Ogston while others were given to him.

ABDUA:38854

Papers of Sir Alexander Ogston

The collection contains papers relating to Ogston’s time at the university, including lectures and attendance records. There are also details of his recommendation of William Clark Souter, as surgeon on the Terra Nova Antarctic expedition (1910-1913), papers relating to the founding of Ogston & Tennant, the Aberdeen soap manufacturer, by his grandfather, and manuscripts relating to local history.