Doctor

A doctor may also be known as a Surgeon or (prior to 1873) an Assistant Surgeon. The term Medical Officer is also used. Most of this article refers to surgeons who were employed by the Bengal, Madras, Bombay or Indian Medical Service/Departments. However some surgeons in British Army regiments were part of the Royal Army Medical Corps of the British Army.

This article contains many links to historical online books.

Records

British Library

The British Library information page 'Indian Medical Service' lists records available in the BL. A pdf document by the Wellcome Library lists records in the British Library relating to medicine and health, including manuscripts.

Two histories of the Indian Medical Service, which also contain some biographical details are:

• A History of the Indian Medical Service, 1600-1913 (2 volumes) by D. G. Crawford 1914. The book is available as a LDS microfilm, with this library catalogue entry.
• Surgeons twoe and a Barber. Being some account of the life and work of the Indian Medical Service, 1600-1947 by Lieut.-Colonel Donald McDonald 1950. (This book appears in the catalogue under the name MacDonald). More details about the book are contained in these reviews: Review 1 and Review 2

Science and the Changing Environment in India 1780-1920: A Guide to Sources in the India Office Records by Richard Axelby and Savithri Preetha Nair 2009. The guide is arranged in eleven chapters including one in respect of health and disease including medical education. Available through Amazon.co.uk from the FIBIS Shop

Lists of medical officers

Two particularly useful books, listing service histories etc, are:

• An Alphabetical List of the Medical Officers of the Indian Army 1764-1838 by Edward Dodwell and James S. Miles (1839). The book is available as a LDS microfilm, with this library catalogue entry.
• Roll of the Indian Medical Service 1615-1930' by D.G. Crawford. Review in FIBIS Military Reading List. The book is available as a LDS microfilm, with this library catalogue entry

Other lists:

• Lists of surgeons, and prior to 1894, Assistant Surgeons may be found in the East-India register and directory, published 1803-1860. The East-India register was superseded by what was initially called The Indian army and civil service list. Later these were separated, and the India army list is the volume which contains the surgeons. Many of the East India register and directory are available online. The online 1838 Bengal Directory also has a list of surgeons refer Directories online. For details of these books in libraries or on microfilm or fiche, refer Directories reading list
• "List of Principal Medical Officers" in Madras from 1651-1800 (Google Books)
• Surgeons at Fort St George, Madras 1850-52.
• The Lancet (vol 1, 1858) lists the Medical Officers of the Bengal Medical Service who died during the Mutiny (Google Books)
• Madras Quarterly Journal Of Medical Science contains a medical directory for the Madras Presidency,commencing page i of the Appendix at the end of each volume.
  • Madras at 1 October 1860, Madras at 1 April 1861, Madras at 1 October 1861, Madras at 1 April 1862, Madras at 1 April 1863
• Army Surgeons in the Afghan War and on the March to Kandahar from Garen Ewing’s website The Second Anglo Afghan War 1878-1880
• Indian Army Officers 1939-1945

Royal Army Medical Corps (British Army)

The Royal Army Medical Corps was established by Royal Warrant on 23rd June 1898. Prior to this there had been two distinct organisations within the Army Medical Services, the Medical Staff (i.e. the officers), and the Medical Staff Corps , which were combined to form the RAMC.

For British Army medical personnel, the Army Medical Services Museum's FAQs page advises that the AMSM has some details for officers who held a regular commission with the Army Medical Department and the RAMC until 1960. Service records for men and women discharged prior to 1920 are held at The National Archives and at the Army Personnel Centre for discharges after this. (It's unclear whether the latter setence includes officers or refers to men and women who were not officers). The museum has a small booklet available with useful advice for researching relatives who served with the AMS. Also refer British Army

The book Commissioned officers in the medical services of the British Army, 1660-1960, published 1968, is available at the British Library

Other

The British Medical Journal is available online from 1840 and is a source of information, particularly the obituaries. However, it probably has more relevance for English, rather than Scottish doctors. Search the archives directly (it is necessary to first register) or access BMJ and other online journals through PubMed Central (PMC is the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature).

Historical background

• “Early History of the Indian Medical Service”. British Medical Journal 7 February 1914, pages 317-319 Also includes names of doctors present at a medical dinner at Calcutta in 1914
• The Wellcome Library, London has both books and archival material about the history of medicine.
• "Surgeons In India, Past and Present" "Past" and "Present,1854" The Calcutta Review v. 22 Published 1854 pages 217 and 242
• “European medicine in India from the sixteenth century” (pdf), a transcribed lecture from University College London (2004)
• "Medicine amidst War and Commerce in Eighteenth-Century Madras" by Pratik Chakrabarti, Bulletin of the History of Medicine 2006 Spring; 80(1): 1–38
• "The truth behind the legend: European doctors in pre-colonial India" by Rajesh Kochhar Journal of Biosciences 1999 Sep.; 24(3): 259-68

Also see Public health

Working conditions and duties

• Pension situation in Bengal in 1827. Letter in Oriental Herald, Volume 14, 1827 Google Books
• Medical Advice to the Indian Stranger by John McCosh M.D. (1841). This book details the author's photographic work and Army career. He retired in 1856. Also refer Photographer.
• Handbook for Medical Officers of H.M. Service in India by Charles Alexander Gordon M.D. published 1851 (written 1846). Hints on the Duties of Medical Officers.
• A code of medical and sanitary regulations for the guidance of Medical Officers serving in the Madras Presidency by William Robert Cornish 1870 (2 Volumes) is available to read online on the National Library of Scotland’s website 'Medical History of British India'
• "The Medical Service of the British Army", with a section on India (page 435), The British and Foreign Medico-chirurgical Review Or Quarterly Journal of Practical Medicine and Surgery (1855)
• Madras Quarterly Medical Journal 1839 to 1844 - many interesting articles by Madras surgeons including medical reports on various regiments.

Volume 1 1839,Volume 2 1840,Volume 3 1841, Volume 4 1842,Volume 5 1843,Volume 6 1844

• Madras Quarterly Journal of Medical Science Google Books

Volume 1 1860, Volume 2 1861, Volume 3 1861, Volume 4 1862, Volume 5 1862, Volume 6 1863,Volume 7 1863, Volume 8 1865, Volume 9 1866, Volume 10 1866, Volume 11 1867, Volume 12 1868, Index to Volumes 1-12, pages 409-470 of Volume 12

• Transactions of the Medical and Physical Society of Bombay Volume I, 1838, No III, 1840, No IV 1841 Archive.org, No VI, 1843, No IX 1847-1848, No 1 New Series 1851-1852, No III New Series 1855-1856, No V New Series 1859, No VI New Series 1860, No VII New Series 1861, No IX New Series 1869 Google Books (except 1841)
• The Indian Medical Gazette Volume 3, 1868 Google Books, Volume 4, 1869, Volume 39, 1904 Archive.org
• The following Journals may be read online on the Digital Library of India website
  • Indian Annals of Medical Science Volume 12 1867
  • The Calcutta Journal of Medicine , in an incomplete series ranging from Volume 8, 1876 to Volume 35, 1916
  • The Indian Medical Record Volume 14 January-June 1898 and Volume 20 January-June 1901
• A manual of medical jurisprudence for Bengal and the North-Western Provinces by Norman Chevers MD 1856 Google Books
• Remarks on the uses of some of the bazaar medicines and common medical plants of India, 2nd edition 1874 by Edward John Waring MD , 3rd edition 1875, 4th edition 1883 Archive,org
• Their Footprints Remain: Biomedical Beginnings across the Indo-Tibetan Frontier (pdf) by Alex McKay International Institute for Asian Studies 2007 Contents page 6(of the pdf) Notes page 250 Bibliography page 286 Index page 304, part of the Digital Academic Repository van de Universiteit van Amsterdam.
  • page 43, has a section in the introduction called "The Indian Medical Service and the Subordinate Medical Service". Chapter 1( page 56) is called "Missionary Medicine and the Rise of Kalimpong"

Appointment

• Rules for appointment in 1848 from The Oriental Interpreter and Treasury of East India Knowledge: A Companion to "The Hand-book of British India by Joachim Hayward Stocqueler (1848) page 297 (Google Books)
• Regulations for appointment to the Indian Medical Service in 1905 in the India Office List (Google Books)

For appointment procedures, refer to the Individuals section below and George Aldred.

Field hospitals

William Lewis M'Gregor, a surgeon himself, writing in his The history of the Sikhs (Vol 1, 1846), describes the work of a regimental surgeon during the 1st Sikh War and calls for field hospitals to be used in future conflicts. "The Loodianah Field Hospital, With Remarks On The State of The Army Medical Department in India" by John Murray, M.D., Field Surgeon, page 158, Medical Times (published in 1849) is an account of a Field Hospital after battle in 1846, including medical details, with the slightly wounded carried out on elephants. "Field Arrangements in India" from Army Hygiene by Charles Alexander Gordon M.D. (1866) describes the Logistics of a Field Hospital, including details of the number of camels required.

Non-medical duties

Some surgeons were engaged in work which today would be regarded as scientific or senior administrative roles. Most of the botanists in the earlier years were surgeons, see botanists and naturalists for more information. WCB Eatwell MD was ‘First Asst. and Opium Examiner. Board of Customs, Salt and Opium’. He was the author of “Report no.1: On the Poppy Cultivation, and the Benares Opium Agency” from Selections from the Records of the Government of Bengal (1851) Google Books.

“Doctors as Civil and Political Officers” by Lieut-Col D G Crawford I.M.S from The Indian Medical Gazette, Volume 39, 1904, page 1.

Individuals

A further list of surgeons, who found fame as botanists and naturalists can be found in that article.

Bengal

• Gabriel Broughton was, perhaps, the most influential doctor in the history of British India. In the year 1636 the daughter of Mughal Emperor, Shah Jehan, was badly burnt following the upset of an oil lamp. The Emperor sent for the English ship's surgeon, Gabriel Broughton, who was able to assist her. In a later incident he treated another lady of the Emperor's harem. In reward for his services he asked that the East India Company be given a charter to trade in Bengal.
• William Hamilton (Wikipedia), a surgeon, died 1717. In gratitude for the success of the medical treatment given to him by Hamilton, the Mughal Emperor, Furrukhsiyar, made generous gifts to the English surgeon. He also allowed the East India Company to purchase about 30 villages which enabled fortification of their position around Calcutta and greatly strengthened their trading presence in Bengal. Hamilton's profession, therefore, played a significant role in establishing the early influence of the East India Company. Photo of memorial to Surgeon William Hamilton on Fibis database
• The Diaries of Three Surgeons of Patna, 1763 edited by W K Firminger 1909. The diaries of William Anderson, Peter Campbell and William Fullarton (Fullerton) about the massacre at Patna in 1763. William Anderson died there. His diary is also published in the Calcutta Review, Volume 79 1884 which is available online on the Digital Library of India website, computer page 349.(Search for Calcutta Review, Vol 79). Refer Online books-Digital Library of India for more details about this site. William Fullerton was appointed Surgeon to the Calcutta General Hospital in 1744
• John Farquhar Assistant Surgeon c 1794 was “better known for the large fortune which he acquired from the various speculations into which he entered", brief details are in this link Archive.org
• William Lewis M’Gregor (or McGregor) 1801-1853. He gained his M.D. at Edinburgh 1825. He was appointed Assistant Surgeon 15 March 1826 and Surgeon 13 January 1842. He took part in the 1st Sikh War as surgeon of the 1st Bengal (European) Fusiliers, also known as the 1st European Light Infantry. He had also resided, for a time, at Lahore, as physician to Runjeet Singh, the Sikh leader (who died in 1839). M’Gregor wrote The History of the Sikhs Volume I and The History of the Sikhs containing an Account of the War between the Sikhs and the British in 1845-46 Volume II both published in 1846 Google Books. He describes how at the end of 1836 he performed galvanism, a type of electric shock therapy on the ailing Runjeet Singh, page 274 of Volume 1. Allen’s Indian Mail, page 673 reported M’Gregor’s death on 11 September 1853.
• Obituary of Surgeon Major Allan Webb, died 15 September 1863, age 55, entered the Bengal Medical Service in 1835. A second obituary. Obituary from the British Medical Journal. For many years from 1842, in addition to his other positions, he was surgeon to the Lower Orphan School, Calcutta, probably until his retirement, or close to it.
• Autobiography of an Indian Army Surgeon: Or, Leaves Turned Down from a Journal by Wilmington Walford M.D. (published 1854) Google Books.
• Frederic John Mouat 1816-1897, Bengal Surgeon, was a leading figure in the field of education and prison reform, ca 1840-1870 Wikipedia His Obituary was published in the British Medical Journal.

• Observations on the nosological arrangement of the Bengal medical returns by Frederic John Mouat Assistant Surgeon, Bengal Army, Professor of Materia Medica and Medical Jurisprudence in the Bengal Medical College 1845 Google Books
  
• Report on jails visited and inspected in Bengal, Behar and Arracan by Frederic John Mouat Inspector of Jails, Lower Provinces 1856 Google Books

• Obituary of Assistant-Surgeon W. J. Thomson, Civil Surgeon of Gurgaon (near Delhi), who died 1863. He had “an early death” and appears to have joined the Bengal Medical Service after 1858.
• Dr. William Brooke O'Shaughnessy (1809-1889), modernised treatment for cholera, introduced cannabis to Western medicine, laid first telegraph system in Asia.

• Memoir of Surgeon-Major Sir W. O'Shaughnessy Brooke...etc by M Adams (1889) Archive.org

• Captain J. R. Roberts, I. M. S., Agency Surgeon at Gilgit took many of the photographs in the book Making of a frontier: five years' experiences and adventures in Gilgit, Hunza, Nagar, Chitral & the eastern Hindu-Kush by Algernon Durand 1900 Archive.org, and is mentioned page xi of the Preface.

Madras

• Diseases of India by Sir James Annesley, 3rd edition. Google books. Commences with details of his career as a Military Surgeon in the Madras Presidency from 1800 until he retired in 1838, after five years on the Medical Board.
• Edward Green Balfour (Wikipedia) ,appointed assistant surgeon in the Madras Medical Service and sailed for India 1834. Retired 1876. Pages from History: Edward the green Balfour Madras Musings March 16-31 2010
• George Edward Aldred was appointed an Assistant Surgeon in the Madras Medical Service on the 20th of April 1847. This page from Asplin Military History shows the appointment procedures. He was court martialled for unbecoming conduct in July 1848 and dismissed, as this item from Allen’s Indian Mail 1848 shows, but subsequently reinstated.

Bombay

• Andrew Jukes from Encyclopedia Iranica. Appointed Assistant Surgeon 1798.
• Narrative of the Campaign of the Indus in Sind and Kaubool in 1838-9 by Richard Hartley Kennedy M.D. Chief of the Medical Staff of the Bombay Division of the Army of the Indus. 1840 Volume 1 Volume 2
• Henry Vandyke Carter 1831-1897 (Wikipedia) provided the drawings for the famous medical text book Gray’s Anatomy. He later joined the Bombay Medical Service where he had a distinguished research career and was Principal of the Grant Medical College Bombay.

• Obituary in the British Medical Journal dated 15 May 1897
• Details of his youth and final years in Scarborough
• “Happy Birthday, Gray’s Anatomy” by Adrian E Flatt. 2009. Contains some biographical details.
• Dr Vandyke Carter, Doctor from History of Leprosy, an initiative of the International Leprosy Association
• ”Causation Controversies in India: the Leprosy Career of Henry Vandyke Carter” Chapter 2, page 55 (online page 67) from Leprosy in the Bombay Presidency 1840-1897 Perceptions and Approaches to its Control . A PhD thesis in History by Shubhada S Pandya 2001
• List of Carter Papers in the Wellcome Institute, with a Biographical Note

• Obituary of R Markham Carter 1875-1961 from the British Medical Journal. A large part of his career was in Bombay. He was renowned for the stand he took in respect of the appalling conditions suffered by casualties at Basra in Mesopotamia during the First World War.

Royal Army Medical Corps (British Army)

• Andrew Leith Adams (Wikipedia) travelled to India in 1849 with the 64th Regiment of Foot and remained for seven years. Wanderings of a naturalist in India: the western Himalayas, and Cashmere by Andrew Leith Adams MD (1867) Google Books.
• “War in Burma-the Award of the Victoria Cross to Ferdinand Simeon Le Quesne" (pdf) by PH Starling from Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps March 2009. The award was for action in Burma 4 May 1889 when he was a Surgeon Captain with the 2nd Norfolk Regiment. He would have been part of the Royal Army Medical Corps at this time, not the Indian Medical Service. He had later (broken) service in Burma and India until 1909.
• Field Force to Lhasa 1903-1904. Fifty letters home by Captain Cecil Mainprise of the Royal Army Medical Corps who took part in the Tibet Expedition. His obituary in the British Medical Journal 3 March 1951 indicates he had further service in India, including the 3rd Afghan War of 1919.

Other

• Theodore Ludvig Frederick Folly was a Danish surgeon who worked in the Danish colony of Tranquebar “The Medical Skills of the Malabar Doctors in Tranquebar, India, as Recorded by Surgeon T L F Folly, 1798” by Niklas Thode Jensen, PhD student Med Hist. 2005 October 1; 49(4): 489–515.
• Dr John Martin Honigberger 1795-1865 was physician to the court of Lahore from 1829 to 1849 and known to his Sikh contemporaries as Martin Sahib. The Sikh Encyclopedia Thirty-five years in the East: Adventures, discoveries, experiments, and historical sketches, relating to the Punjab and Cashmere; in connection with medicine, botany, pharmacy, etc. Together with an original materia medica; and a medical vocabulary, in four European and five Eastern languages by John Martin Honigberger, late Physician to the Court of Lahore 1852 Google Books
• John Williamson Palmer 1825-1906 was an American doctor, appointed, in Hong Kong, surgeon on the EIC war steamer Phlegethon (Bengal Marine). The previous surgeon, returning from a dinner party had slipped overboard and was drowned. The Phlegethon took part in the 2nd Burma War in 1852-1853 and The golden Dagon, or, Up and down the Irrawaddi: being passages of adventure in the Burman Empire by John Williamson Palmer 1856 Google Books details his experiences. He also wrote "The Chorus of the Palanquin Bearers", a description of his transit through Cossitollah Street, Calcutta. Biographical details
• Pennell of the Afghan frontier; the life of Theodore Leighton Pennell, M.D., B. SC., F.R.C.S. Kaisar-i-Hind medal for public service in India by Alice Maud Pennell 1914. Dr Pennell of the Bannu Medical Mission died at the age of 44.
• Laura and Charles Hope were Baptist medical missionaries from Australia, for most of the period 1893 to 1934, as described in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.