John Rutherford was born in Yarrow, Selkirkshire. He studied philosophy and mathematics at the University of Edinburgh before apprenticing to the Edinburgh surgeon Mr Nisbit. After studying anatomy, surgery, and materia medica in London, he travelled to Paris, Leiden, and Rheims, where he graduated MD in 1719. On his return to Edinburgh, Rutherford, alongside Andrew St Clair, Andrew Plummer, and John Innes, petitioned the Town Council for permission to use a purchased house as a chemical laboratory and teaching space.
