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{{Short description|Scottish naturalist and ornithologist (1796–1852)}}
{{about||the Canadian film director and screenwriter|William D. MacGillivray|the Australian politician|William MacGillivray (politician)}}

{{Infobox scientist
| name              = William MacGillivray
| image             = William MacGillivray.jpg
| image_size        = 
| alt               = 
| caption           = William MacGillivray in middle age,<br/>probably in 1841<br/>Collection of the University of Aberdeen
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|df=yes|1796|01|25}}
| birth_place       = [[Old Aberdeen]]
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1852|09|04|1796|01|25}}
| death_place       = Aberdeen
| resting_place     = Edinburgh
| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline,title}} -->
| residence         = 
| citizenship       = 
| nationality       = Scottish
| fields            = [[Ornithology]]
| workplaces        = [[University of Aberdeen]]
| alma_mater        = 
| known_for         = 
| author_abbrev_bot = 
| author_abbrev_zoo = 
| awards            = 
| spouse            = 
}}
[[File:William MacGillivray's grave, New Calton Cemetery.JPG|thumb|William MacGillivray's grave, New Calton Cemetery]]
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2012}}
'''William MacGillivray''' [[FRSE]] (25 January 1796 – 4 September 1852) was a [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[natural history|naturalist]] and [[ornithologist]].

==Life and work==
[[File:107 High Street, Old Aberdeen.jpg|thumb|300px|107 High Street, Old Aberdeen]]
MacGillivray was born in [[Old Aberdeen]] and brought up on [[Harris, Outer Hebrides|Harris]]. He returned to Aberdeen where he studied Medicine at [[King's College, Aberdeen|King's College]], graduating MA in 1815.<ref name="Waterston">{{cite book |last1=Waterston |first1=Charles D |last2=Macmillan Shearer |first2=A |title=Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783-2002: Biographical Index |url=http://www.rse.org.uk/fellowship/fells_indexp1.pdf |access-date=31 December 2010 |volume=I |date=July 2006 |publisher=[[The Royal Society of Edinburgh]] |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-0-902198-84-5 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004113545/http://www.rse.org.uk/fellowship/fells_indexp1.pdf |archive-date=4 October 2006}}</ref> In Old Aberdeen he lived at 107 High Street.<ref>Plaque in Old Aberdeen High Street</ref>

He then became an assistant Dissector in the Anatomy classes. In 1823 he became assistant to [[Robert Jameson]], the [[Regius Professor]] of Natural History at the [[University of Edinburgh]]. He was curator of the museum of the [[Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh]] from 1831, resigning in 1841 to become [[Regius Professor of Natural History (Aberdeen)|Regius Professor of Natural History]] at [[Marischal College]], Aberdeen.

MacGillivray was a friend of American bird expert [[John James Audubon]], and wrote a large part of Audubon's ''Ornithological Biographies'' from 1830 to 1839. Audubon named [[MacGillivray's warbler]] for him.

He died at 67 Crown Street<ref>Aberdeen Post Office Directory 1852</ref> in Aberdeen on 5 September 1852 but is buried in [[New Calton Cemetery]] in [[Edinburgh]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|access-date=3 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
The grave faces east onto the eastern path.

==Family==

In 1820 he married Marion Askill from Harris.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|access-date=3 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> The couple had 10 children, two of whom died in infancy.<ref>{{cite book|title=Raptor: A Journey Through Birds|author=James Macdonald Lockhart|page=334|publisher=4th Estate}}</ref>

Two of MacGillivray's sons achieved recognition as naturalists. His eldest son, [[John MacGillivray]] (1822–1867), published an account of the voyage round the world of [[HMS Rattlesnake (1822)|HMS ''Rattlesnake'']], to which he was the onboard naturalist. Another son, [[Paul MacGillivray|Paul]], published an ''Aberdeen Flora'' in 1853, and donated 214 of his father's paintings to the [[Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]].

==Legacy==

A detailed version of MacGillivray's life, written by a namesake, was published 49 years after the ornithologist's death.<ref>MacGillivray , William. ''[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/30536#page/10/mode/2up A Memorial Tribute to William MacGillivray]''. Privately published, 1901.</ref>

MacGillivray correctly distinguished between the [[hooded crow]] and [[carrion crow]], but they were considered only to be [[subspecies]] for the next one and a half centuries until, in 2002, on [[DNA]] evidence, the hooded crow was awarded species status.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Migration Ecology of Birds | publisher=Academic Press | author=Newton, Ian | year=2010 | pages=648}}</ref>

==Works==
{{wikisource|works=or}}

MacGillivray's works include:

*''Lives of Eminent Zoologists from Aristotle to Linnaeus'' (1830)
*''A Systematic Arrangement of British Plants'' (1830)
*''The Travels and Researches of Alexander von Humboldt.'' (1832)
*''A History of British Quadrupeds'' (1838)
*''A Manual of Botany, Comprising Vegetable Anatomy and Physiology'' (1840)
*''A History of the Molluscous Animals of Aberdeen, Banff and Kincardine'' (1843)
*''A Manual of British Ornithology'' (1840–1842)
*''A History of British Birds, indigenous and migratory'', in five volumes (1837–1852)
*''Natural History of Deeside and Braemar'' (1855), published posthumously
*''A Hebridean Naturalist's Journal 1817-1818'' (1996), published posthumously
*''A Walk to London'' (1998), published posthumously

MacGillivray illustrated [[Henry Witham]]'s 1833 ''The Internal Structure of Fossil Vegetables found in the Carboniferous and Oolitic deposits of Great Britain'', and edited ''The Conchologist's Text-Book'' through several editions.
{{clear}}
{{botanist|W.MacGill.}}

==See also==

* [[Thomas Bewick]]
* [[William Yarrell]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Macgillivray, William |short=x}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110608155209/http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/science-of-natural-history/biographies/william-macgillivray/ Biography at Natural History Museum]
* [http://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/departments-and-staff/library-and-archives/collections/macgillivray/browse.dsml  MacGillivray art collection at Natural History Museum]
* C. Michael Hogan (2009). [https://web.archive.org/web/20101126090957/http://www.globaltwitcher.com/artspec_information.asp?thingid=26307 ''Hooded Crow: Corvus cornix'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed, N. Stromberg]
* William MacGillivray (1901). [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/30536#page/10/mode/2up ''A memorial tribute to William MacGillivray, ornithologist''], Edinburgh
* {{Gutenberg author | id=36821}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=William MacGillivray}}
* {{BHL author}}
* {{OL author}}
* [http://www.avibushistoriae.com/MacGillivray_%20William.htm De Avibus Historiae: MacGillivray by Alberto Masi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304091615/http://www.avibushistoriae.com/MacGillivray_%20William.htm |date=4 March 2016 }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macgillivray, William}}
[[Category:1796 births]]
[[Category:1852 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Aberdeen]]
[[Category:Scottish artists]]
[[Category:Scottish ornithologists]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish biologists]]
[[Category:Scottish naturalists]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Aberdeen]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Aberdeen]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Scottish zoologists]]
[[Category:Burials at the New Calton Burial Ground]]
[[Category:Scottish curators]]
[[Category:Scottish taxonomists]]