William Stott McKee, ca. 1837 - 1921

by Brian Stevenson
last updated July, 2024

Microscope enthusiast W.S. McKee was a member of the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club from around 1879 onward, and was also a subscriber to the Postal Microscopical Society beginning in 1882. He is best known today for his high-quality mounts of colorful butterfly wings (Figure 1), although records indicate that his interests included items such as rotifers and other aquatic microbes. McKee lived in Belfast, Ireland from at least 1882 until the mid-1890s, when he moved to Bangor, County Down. His known slides document that move, with early slides having a typeset “Belfast” on the labels, and later slide labels having the address cut off.

Figure 1. Two microscope slides of dry-mounted butterfly wings, prepared by W.S. McKee. The slide on the left, with “Belfast” on the label, dates from before his ca. 1897 move to Bangor, while the slide on the right, which has the address cut off, dates from after then.

Figure 2. An undated photograph of William S. McKee. Adapted for nonprofit, educational purposes from https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/18651739/person/19936390968/facts

Records of William Stott McKee’s early life are spotty. Census records indicate that he was born ca. 1837 in Count Down, Ireland, son of John and Ann (nee Stott) McKee. He married Isabella Eliza Young on March 2, 1859, in Belfast. Isabella died in 1870.

W.S. McKee is reported to have joined the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club in 1879. He is definitely included in the membership rolls from 1882 onward (the earliest record that I have found). At that time, and through around 1897, McKee lived on Fleetwood Street, Belfast.

McKee joined the Postal Microscopical Society in October, 1882. That year’s membership list gave his address as Mill Street, Belfast. This was the business address of Alexander Crawford & Son, a manufacturer of starches. It coincides with McKee’s 1911 census record which described his occupation as “Manager starch manufacturer”. That he used the business address for correspondence in 1882 indicates that he was already a high-level worker at that time.

At the November 1, 1890 meeting of the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Society, “Mr. W.S. M’Kee showed living specimens of Rotifera and Polyzoa. Their exquisite structure and graceful movements were objects of much admiring comment.” Similarly, he displayed “living rotifers” at the March 17, 1896 meeting.

The 1897 list of Belfast Naturalists’ Field Society members gave McKee’s address as Fleetwood Street, Belfast. From 1898 onwards, his given address was that of his employer, at 20 Mill Street.

The 1901 and 1911 Ireland censuses gave McKee’s address as Seacliff Road, Bangor. He lived with a younger, widowed cousin, Elizabeth White, who kept the house.

W.S. McKee died on September 22, 1921. He was buried in Belfast.

Figure 3. Magnified view of a piece of wing from a "Lathonia" (Issoria lathonia, the Queen of Spain fritillary butterfly), mounted ca. 1890 by W.S. McKee (see Figure 1). Imaged with a 3.5x objective lens, indirect lighting, and a C-mounted digital SLR camera on a Leitz Ortholux II microscope.

Resources

Annual Report and Proceedings of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club (1882) Subscribing Members: “W.S. McKee, Fleetwood Street"

Annual Report and Proceedings of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club (1890) Minutes of the November 1, 1890 meeting, page 280

Annual Report and Proceedings of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club (1896) Minutes of the March 17, 1896 meeting, page 300

Annual Report and Proceedings of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club (1896) Subscribing Members: “M’Kee, William S., Fleetwood Street, Belfast"

Annual Report and Proceedings of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club (1897) Subscribing Members: “M’Kee, William S., Fleetwood Street, Belfast"

Annual Report and Proceedings of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club (1898) Subscribing Members: “M’Kee, Wm. S., 20 Mill Street"

Annual Report and Proceedings of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club (1912) Subscribing Members: “M’Kee, Wm. S., 20 Mill Street"

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/18651739/person/19936390968/facts (accessed July, 2024)

The Belfast News-Letter (1859) “March 2 in the Evangelical Union Church, Wellington Place, byt eh Rev. George Cron, Mr. Wm. Stott M’Kee, to Isabella, only daughter of the late Mr. Wm. Young, both of Belfast”, March 3 issue

Grave record of William Stott McKee (accessed July 2024) https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/195577723/william-stott-mckee

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/MYY7-LVX (accessed July, 2024)

Ireland census and other records, accessed through familysearch.org

The Journal of the Postal Microscopical Society (1882) “Oct., 1882 … McKee W.S., Mill Street, Belfast, Ireland”, page 14

Paisley, Peter B. (2012) The familiar – and not so familiar – W.A. Firth: his life and times in Belfast, Micscape, http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artdec12/pp-Firth.html

Report of Executive Committee, Awards of Jurors, and Statement of Accounts of the Cork Industrial Exhibition (1883) “Stand No. 97 – Alexander Crawford and Son, Mill-street, Belfast”, page 338

Report of the Tariff Commission of Great Britain (1906) “Witness No. 130, Captain Frederick Hugh Crawford (Wheaten Starch and Corn Flour Manufacturer, representing Messrs. Alexander Crawford & Son, 20, Mill Street, Belfast”, page 739

Ulster Journal of Archaeology (1906) List of Subscribers, “McKee, W.S. 20, Mill Street, Belfast, … Crawford, Capt. F.H., 20, Mill Street, Belfast”