MB ChB Edin 1925, MD 1930.
Macnair was educated at Edinburgh University and held junior appointments there at the City Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children. He was assistant in the department of pharmacology at the University of Edinburgh and proceeded MD in 1930. Macnair then moved to Marple, Cheshire, where he established himself in general practice. He was honorary medical superintendent of Marple Orthopaedic Hospital and assistant medical officer at Stockport Infirmary, where he devoted much of his time. He gave up this appointment to study psychiatry, and was part way through the DPM when he became ill. Macnair died on 26 May 1948 at the age of 46.