William (Bill) McClatchey was born in Belfast in 1917. He qualified for the MB (Belfast) in 1940 and MD in 1971, the same year as he was elected to the foundation Fellowship of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Bill spent the first years of his professional life in general practice in Belfast and Liverpool. He then moved to Claremont Street Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Belfast. There he worked under the distinguished neurologist R. S. Allison. In 1950 he decided to begin a career in psychiatry. He obtained a Fellowship at the Crichton Royal, Dumfries, Scotland, one of the foremost psychiatric hospitals in the UK. He was a student of Willi Mayer-Gross and R. Klein, both of whom were international authorities on neuro-psychiatry. After some years he was appointed Consultant Psychiatrist at the Crichton Royal Hospital. While there he published several papers on involutional depression and electroencephalography with W. McAdam and A. Tait. In 1959 Bill McClatchey was appointed Deputy Physician Superintendent at Glasgow Royal Mental Hospital (now Gartnavel Royal Hospital). Six years later he moved to Perth, Scotland as Physician Superintendent of Murray Royal Hospital.

His practice of psychiatry was much influenced by his early experiences in general practice, by his keen interest in psychotherapy and by the application of psychoanalytical ideas in clinical work. Last, and by no means least, his practice was informed by a sensitivity for human beings and their frailties.

In his student days Bill was an outstanding athlete. As a swimmer, he represented his university and was a member of the Irish Water Polo team. Friendly by nature, he was always popular with fellow students and later with colleagues. He was a physically active man, swimming regularly until a few days before his death. He especially enjoyed playing the piano and listening to music - jazz or classical. In his retirement he travelled extensively. His wife, Jane, died in 1983. He leaves two sons - John, a Professor of Climatology and Alan, a general practitioner.