George Ballingall, who was Regius Professor of Military Surgery at the University of Edinburgh, was born on 2 May 1780 in Forglen, Banffshire, where his father was a minister. He attended four literary sessions at the University of St. Andrews before following a course of medical study at the University of Edinburgh between 1803 and 1806, and received his diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, on 17 December 1805. Ballingall was then appointed as Assistant Surgeon to the 2nd Battalion 1st Royals. He served in India, witnessed the capture of Java in 1811, and was in occupied Paris in 1815. In November 1815 he was appointed Surgeon to the 33rd Regiment of Foot, retiring in 1818. He had also re-matriculated in 1816 to study Chemistry and Military Surgery, and formally graduated in 1819. His M.D. thesis "De Apoplexia Sanguinea" was completed at the University that year. In 1823, Ballingall became Lecturer on Military Surgery at the University, and in 1825 he succeeded to the Chair of Military Surgery. During his period of tenure Ballingall fervently sought to impress upon the political authorities of the day the necessity of teaching Military Surgery as a separate discipline, and to establish similar chairs or lectureships in London and Dublin. He also took a keen interest in the running of the Army Medical Department, particularly during the disastrous years of the Crimean War. Most notable amongst his published works arePractical observations on fever, dysentery, and liver complaints, as they occur amongst the European troops in India: to which is annexed, an essay on syphilis(1823),The life of Dr. Barclay(circa 1827),Outlines of military surgery, first published asOutlines of the course of lectures on military surgery(1833), andObservations on the site and construction of hospitals(1851). Ballingall was knighted on the occasion of the accession of King William IV. He died at Blairgowrie on 4 December 1855.