Peter Donald Strachan, son of James Strachan and Christina MacDonald Reid, qualified as Master of Arts (MA, 1893) at the University of Glasgow, and in 1898 as Bachelor of Medicine (MB) and Bachelor of Surgery (ChB) at the same institution. He was licensed to practice medicine in the Orange River Colony (now the Free State) on 25 August 1902. During that year he worked at the Springfontein refugee camp, which was established during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), but in September 1902 resigned to accept an appointment as district surgeon of Phillipolis. He still held this position in 1913. However, for some time he was medical officer at Serowe, Bechuanaland (now Botswana). In 1911 he was awarded the degree Doctor of Medicine (MD) by the University of Glasgow for a thesis describing his investigations into brucellosis in South Africa - a disease caused by bacteria of the genus Brucella and also known as Malta fever or undulant fever. Two early papers resulting from this research appeared in the South African Medical Record: "The question of the presence in South Africa of Malta or undulant fever" (1904) and "Undulant fever in South Africa" (1906). In the latter paper he discussed South African cases of the disease during the eighteen-nineties. He retained an interest in this disease for many years, as indicated by his later articles on the topic in the South African Medical Journal (1932) and British Medical Journal (1932, 1933).

In 1916 Strachan resided at Taynuilt, Argyllshire, Scotland. Later he returned to southern Africa and by 1924 was superintendent of the Botsabelo (or Botsabelu, Botshabelo) leper asylum near Maseru, Basutoland (now Lesotho). He published several papers on his work there, incuding two in the South African Medical Journal in 1933 and 1935. In 1928 he was offered an appointment as bacteriologist in the Human Trypanosomiasis Research Institute at Entebbe, Uganda, but it seems that he did not accept it.

Strachan was an early member of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa, formed in 1922. He was still a member, and residing at Botsabelo, in 1938. In 1926 he wrote an article a "Civil time sun-dial" in the society's Journal. He and his wife, Jessie Elizabeth Strachan, had three sons.

List of sources:

FamilySearch: Peter MacDonald Strachan. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/M91K-M66/peter-donald-strachan-1872 AND https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939Z-539Z-3X?view=index&personArk=/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2F9-BG9B&action=view&cc=1779109&lang=en&groupId=M96F-LFG

Journal of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa, 1924, Vol. 1(3) and 1938, Vol. 4(3): Lists of members.

Malan, M. In quest of health: The South African Institute for Medical Research, 1912-1973. Johannesburg: Lowry, 1988.

Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Directory of South Africa, 1926/7.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS). http://national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to Strachan, Peter Donald / Dr Strachan.

Peter Donald Strachan. Geni. Retrieved on 18 December 2020 from https://www.geni.com/people/Peter-Donald-Gillan/5671536761770075792

Peter Donald Strachan. The University of Glasgow Story. Retrieved on 18 December 2020 from https://universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH16826&type=P

Pietermaritzburg Archives Depository, Vol. NMC 34, [List of medical practitioners, etc., in the Orange Free State, as on 31 December 1916].

South African Medical Record, 1904, Vol. 2.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2026-01-02 10:31:15