William Watts McNair (13 September 1849 – 13 August 1889) was a British surveyor, the first British explorer of Kafiristan (now Nuristan).
Early life
Details of McNair's life up to the time of his 1883 journey are sketchy. According to John Keay, he was "country bred" (born and educated in India). He joined the Survey of India on 1 September 1867, just before his 18th birthday, and was posted to the Rajputana Topographical Party. "The first twelve years of his service were passed on topographical duty with this party under Major G. Strahan, R.E., and in the Mysore Party under Majors G. Strahan and H. R. Thuillier, R.E."
J. E. Howard, who compiled a memoir of McNair, mentioned his "ardent, buoyant, somewhat impulsive early manhood" and fondness for cricket. Howard made no comment about McNair's father, but did note that he had a sister and two younger brothers, John (who worked for the Indian Government's Finance Department before dying in his early twenties of small-pox contracted at Lahore), and George (who became a solicitor in Calcutta). In later years William lived with his mother and sister in Mussoorie. "A more united or more tenderly-knit family, of strong religious feeling, I have never known", Howard wrote.
