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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[[soldier]]s. Not all the children were orphans. The Free School was for children of non military fathers. The background of the boys from the Lower Orphan School was approximately 25% European and 75% Eurasian (or East Indian or from 1911 [[Anglo Indian]]), with a European soldier father and Indian mother. The percentage of Eurasians in the Upper Orphan School was higher, as orphans with European parents were returned to England, provided they had family there who could care for them. Subordinate Medical Departments were also established in [[Madras (Presidency)|Madras ]] in 1812, and a little later in [[Bombay(Presidency)|Bombay]]. Medical College training for Hospital Apprentices was introduced in 1847 in Bengal following the system that had previously been successfully introduced in Madras.
http://www.annals.edu.sg/pdf/34VolNo6200506/V34N6p4C.pdf*****===Promotion===Published in 1841, page 5 of ''Medical Advice to the Indian Stranger '' by John McCosh stated, in respect of the situation in Bengal,
saving current progress
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.”
General Order 200 dated 15 June 1847 is about Apprenticeships in the Bengal Subordinate Medical Department. It sets out that candidates would sit an examination to become an apprentice. Those successful would serve for two years as an apprentice in the Hospital of a European Regiment or General Hospital. They then may be selected by the Medical Board for a studentship in the Medical College. They would then attend a two year course of study comprising Anatomy, Dissection, Materia Medica, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, the practice of Medicine and Surgery and more especially clinical instruction in connection with the last two branches. At the end of the two years they were to undergo an examination. If successful they were to be drafted to European Regiments or to the General Hospital, there to wait their turn for promotion as Assistant Apothecaries or Assistant Stewards. Promotion to Apothecary was also to be by examination.
This Order is in a book called ''General Report on Public Instruction in the Lower Provinces of the Bengal Presidency for 1847-1848'', Appendix E, no. XI, page clxvi. Click here to read the complete Order*[http://books.google.com/books?id=H8wCAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PR166Read the complete Order].Click here for further background information (page 69) *[http://books.google.com/books?id=c4gIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA69 Further background information] (page 69) However, when the [[Indian Mutiny |Mutiny]] occurred (1857), the classes at the Medical College for Hospital Apprentices were broken up. Due to the shortage of medical personnel, and the demand for them in the regiments, this situation continued for over ten years [in Bengal]. A decision was made in July 1868 to recommence classes for the Hospital Apprentices at the Medical Schools. Click here for the full article, page 158 Indian Medical Gazette, July 1868[http://books.google.com/books?id=oLkTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA158 Full article, page 158 ''Indian Medical Gazette'', July 1868] The Bombay Medical Board issued new Rules for training Medical Apprentices dated 2nd April 1851. They were similar to Bengal, but with three years of Medical College prior to becoming an Assistant Apothecary with progression to Steward, then Apothecary.Pages 235 to 246 ''Report of the Board of Education, Bombay '' January 1,1850 to April 30, 1851 (Published 1851Click here for the full article ). [http://books.google.com/books?id=38AIAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA2-PA235Full article]
It is interesting to note that from 1869 until the founding of the King Edward VII College of Medicine in [[Singapore]], apprentice Apothecaries were also recruited from schools in that region and trained in the Madras Medical College. Full details are given in [http://www.annals.edu.sg/pdf/34VolNo6200506/V34N6p4C.pdf The Founding of the Medical School in Singapore ] in 1905 by YK Lee.
“They enter the service as hospital-apprentices, on the pay of 33 rupees a month; after ten years service they are promoted either to assistant- apothecaries or assistant-stewards, on an allowance of 70 rupees; and, after about nine years in that grade, they are promoted to apothecaries with the pay of 140 rupees a month, or stewards with the pay of 120 rupees. To every European regiment, whether Royal or Company's, there is an apothecary and a steward attached, with each his assistant.”
Click here to read full article: http://books.google.com/books?id=4y5WftsInfgC&pg=PA5
