Alexander Davidson was born in Edinburgh, the son of Rev. Peter Davidson, D.D, a well-known United Presbyterian minister. His mother was the daughter of Rev. Alexander Young of Logie-almond, Perthshire. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy and Edinburgh University, where he graduated in arts before turning to medicine. Having taken the degrees of M.B, C.M. in 1863, he served in a resident post at Bradford Infirmary and then settled in general practice in Liverpool. For a short time he held appointments at the South Dispensary and Infirmary for Children, but in 1872, on being elected physician to the Northern Hospital, he began to practise as a consultant. In 1876 he transferred his allegiance to the Royal Infirmary, where he remained physician for twenty-one years. From the outset of his career, he was associated with medical education in Liverpool. He lectured at the Royal Infirmary School of Medicine on natural history and later on pathology, and when University College, Liverpool, was founded he was made its first professor of pathology. Behind a severe manner Davidson concealed a wise judgment and generous nature. He died at Liverpool, survived by his widow, who was the daughter of Lloyd Rayner, a Liverpool merchant, and by his son.

G H Brown

[Lancet, 1904; B.M.J., 1904]