Clan Skene

Sir John Skene
Sir John Skene was a celebrated sixteenth century lawyer who edited the most important of the early collections of Scottish Acts of Parliament. He rose to become Lord Clerk Register under James VI.

James Skene (b. circa 1800)
James Skene was a close friend of the novelist, Sir Walter Scott and is said to have provided him with the inspiration for both “Quentin Durward” and “Ivanhoe”, two of Scott’s best-known novels.

Alexander Johnston Chalmers Skene (1837 – 1900)
Scottish gynecologist who described what became known as the Skene's glands. Skene was born in Fyvie, Scotland on June 17, 1837. At the age of 19, he went to America. He studied medicine in Toronto, then Michigan, and finally at the Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn graduating in 1863. After a brief military service he entered private practice in Brooklyn and advanced to become Professor of Disease of Women at Long Island College Hospital.

Skene wrote over 100 medical articles and several textbooks. He contributed many surgical instruments and improved on surgical techniques. Primarily, he is remembered for his description of the Skene's glands at the floor of the urethra. He also described their infection - skenitis.

Skene died in his summerhouse in the Catskills, New York on July 4, 1900.

William Forbes Skene (1809-1893)
A celebrated writer and historian, he was the author of two highly respected publications, “The Highlanders of Scotland” and “Celtic Scotland”. In 1881 was appointed to the post of Historiographer Royal for Scotland.