On 12 May 1884 on Alexandra Street in Kirkcaldy, a builder from Abernethy named Matthew Wishart and his wife, Jessie Garrick, become parents to the second of five children, a son, and name him David Garrick. Around that time Matthew must have been successful in business as when old enough, young David was sent to the prestigious Royal High School in Edinburgh after which, in 1906, he became a student at Edinburgh University.

As a Student of Medicine, David eventually graduated from university with an M.B., Ch.B. (Hons) in 1914. Shortly after war broke out, in November, David joined a medical unit of the OTC and was gazetted lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps during June 1915. On 29 October he left for Salonika with the 27th Casualty Clearing Station, RAMC and stationed at Lahana until September 1918, where he would have treated men brought in from fighting on the Struma front. A keen watercolour artist since his youth, David was renowned for painting everywhere he went with the picture below featuring the French trenches at Vardar in 1916.

In December 1918, having advanced through Bulgaria and Turkey, David likely found himself based in Russia at the Black Sea port of Batumi until 1920. On discharge from the army, David was allowed to retain the rank of acting major and returned to Kirkcaldy, where he took up residence at 19 Townsend Crescent.

During late-October 1920 David was admitted a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and also became Honorary Physician at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh, and Honorary Surgeon at the Victoria Hospital in Burnley.

David practised as a doctor for the rest of his life and died in Kirkcaldy on 24 April 1965.

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