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***** ===British Library definition===The [[India Office ]] Family History Search, in its Dictionary gives the following description of Apothecary: ''The title given to the various grades of warrant officer in the Indian Military Subordinate Medical Service. The rank of Apothecary was abolished in the Subordinate Medical Service in 1894 and replaced by that of Assistant Surgeon. Apothecaries in the Indian Army undertook general medical duties - by the early 19th century the word was used in the more general sense of medical practitioner as well as in its original meaning of pharmacist.'' The word 'Service ' is not quite accurate in the definition above and should be replaced by 'Department'. Surgeons, trained in Great Britain, held covenanted positions in the Medical Departments of the Presidencies and later in the Indian Medical Service and were of officer rank in the Army. The European establishment of the Subordinate Medical Departments of the [[presidencies ]] (with abbreviations such as Sub Medical Dept, Sub-Med Dept, S-Med Dept, SMD.) and of the later Indian Subordinate Medical Department (ISMD) consisted of the uncovenanted positions of Apothecaries and Stewards, Assistant Apothecaries and Assistant Stewards, together with those in training for these roles called Hospital Apprentices or Medical Apprentices. The first four positions were of [[warrant officer ]] rank, but this rank did not apply to Hospital or Medical Apprentices. The members of the SMD were almost always locally born and recruited, although there were the odd exceptions. *****==The Early Years - Training== In [[Bengal (Presidency)|Bengal]], a formal scheme to train apothecaries commenced following a [[General Order of the Governor General in Council, June 15th 1812|General Order dated June 15, 1812 ]] by the Governor General (reported in the ''Calcutta Gazette '' dated Thursday, July 2, 1812 (Vol LVII, No 1479) which “approved a Plan submitted to him by the Medical Board, for the instruction of Boys from the Upper and Lower Orphan Schools and Free School, to serve as Compounders and Dressers, and ultimately as Apothecaries and Sub Assistant Surgeons in the Medical Department of this Presidency...The Medical Board shall select 24 Boys of 14 or 15 years of age, from the above Institutions, in the choice of whom the Governors of these schools are enjoined to afford every possible assistance.”
wikifying
Ancestors in British India often followed the professions of '''Apothecary''' or '''Assistant Surgeon''' and it is hoped that this article will help you to track yours down and learn more about how they lived and worked.
==Overview==
===Definition===
There are two apparent contradictions that researchers will face straight away. According to usual definitions, apothecary is an old fashioned word for a pharmacist, while surgeons perform surgery. In this context however, they are used for the same job at different times and in fact Apothecaries in the earlier period and Assistant Surgeons in the later were required to do both and much more besides.
===Military or Civilian===
The second problem concerns whether they are Military or Civilian and the answer to this is the former, although they could be posted as Civil Surgeons to hospitals and even jails.
===Crawford’s Roll of the Indian Medical Service===
A further frequently asked question is why an Assistant Surgeon ancestor does not appear in ''Crawford’s Roll of the Indian Medical Service 1614-1930''. Apothecaries as members of the Indian Subordinate Medical Department, rather than the superior Indian Medical Service, generally are not listed in Crawford, except for some reason, those in the [[Madras Presidency]]. It should be noted that IMS used the title Assistant Surgeon for its lower ranks until 1873 and that the ISMD used the same title after 1894. Therefore if your Assistant Surgeon appears with that title before 1873, he should be in the IMS.
Conversely, however brilliant, the Indian born and educated men were trained in India and provided service in the ISMD, on lower pay scales. Some did rise in seniority, but would always be 'inferior' to their colleagues in the IMS. As the years went by, this perceived inferiority became an issue to be addressed. There are examples of men in the ISMD trained elsewhere, although these were in the minority. For example, The London Gazette Oct 17, 1919 lists under ''To be Senior Asst Surgeon with rank of Lieutenant: 1st class Asst Surgeons, 10th Feb 1919, Frederick William Mathews, L.R.C.P and S.I., L.M (Dub)'' ie Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians (London) and Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (LRCSI), coupled with a Licence in Midwifery.
General Order, by the Right Honorable the Governor General in Council (note sent as separate document)
The Upper Orphan School was the Military Orphan School for Officers’ Children and the Lower Orphan School was the Military Orphan School for the children of Warrant Officers and Soldiers. Not all the children were orphans. The Free School was for children of non military fathers.
