Public health

Occupations

Occupations in the field of public health include:

• Apothecary
• Assistant Surgeon
• Doctor including Surgeon
• Hospital or Medical Apprentice
• Nurse including Midwife
• Steward

See also, Indian Subordinate Medical Department

FIBIS resources

• "Lost and Found-the records of Pembroke House" by Sylvia Dibbs FIBIS Journal Number 28 (Autumn 2012) pages 41-46 . Captain John Dibbs was a patient at the Lunatic Asylum at Bhowanipur in 1836 and was admitted to Pembroke House, the lunatic asylum run by the East India Company for its afflicted personnel, in Hackney London in 1837. See FIBIS Journals for details of how to access this article.
• "Owen Berkeley-Hill and Psychiatry in India" by Mike Young" FIBIS Journal Number 30 (Autumn 2013) pages 8-20

Recommended Reading

• 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. For full review see Research guides reading list

See also

• Madras bibliography which contains references to the medical history of Madras
• Military periodicals online-Army Medical Department Report which includes a section "On The Health of the Troops Serving in India". A broken range of editions from 1862-1897

External links

• Medical History of British India, many Disease and Public Health reports, including military reports, from 19th and 20th century British India, from the National Library of Scotland, available online.

The Online Project is described in this 2009 link

• Introducing the India Office Medical Archives Project 11 September 2014 British Library’s Untold lives blog. Retrieved 21 September 2014
• "Tropical medicine in nineteenth-century India" by Mark Harrison The British Journal for the History of Science [BJHS], 1992, 25; Issue 3, 299-318. cambridge.org
• "Town planning and public health in Calcutta in the 18th and 19th centuries" by Dr Partho Datta Wellcome History Issue No.22 February 2003, pages 2-4
• “Public Health in British India: A Brief Account of the History of Medical Services and Disease Prevention in Colonial India” by Muhammad Umair Mushtaq Indian Journal of Community Medicine. 2009 January; 34(1): 6–14
• Leprosy in the Bombay Presidency 1840-1897 Perceptions and Approaches to its Control. A PhD thesis in History by Shubhada S Pandya 2001
• “Leprosy in British India 1860-1940: Colonial Politics and Missionary Medicine” by Sanjiv Kakar Medical History 1996, 40, 215-230
• “India: Scientific Investigation of Epidemic and Endemic Disease” British Medical Journal 7 February 1914. Details Research Institutes and some of the people involved.
• Deccan Queen: A Spatial Analysis of Poona in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries by Wayne Thomas Mullen. Sydney University Digital Theses 26-Mar-2006. A thesis which is “structured around the analysis of a model that describes the Cantonment, the Civil Lines, the Sadr Bazar and part of the Native City of the Western Indian settlement of Poona in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.” Contains sections on public health topics
• 'The best east of Suez,' they described MH [The Madras Maternity Hospital] Madras Musings, June 1-15, 2009, Where they see, hear and dream Ob & Gyn Madras Musings, June 16-30, 2009
• "Asylum Provision and the East India Company in the Nineteenth Century" by Waltraud Ernst Medical History 1998, 42:476-502
• "Lunatic Asylums Arrive in Calcutta" by Amit Ranjan Basu. humanitiesunderground.org
• "Private psychiatric care in the past: With special reference to Chennai" by O. Somasundaram Indian J Psychiatry. 2008 Jan-Mar; 50(1): 67–69.
• Exercise to ease a troubled mind. This article mentions Pembroke House, many of whose patients were placed there by the East India Company. British Library Untold Lives 7 September 2012
• "The madness at Deolali" by N A Martin Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps. 2006 Jun; 152 (2):94-5 , now an archived page.
• "Prostitution in Colonial India" by Sudhanshu Bhandari Mainstream, Vol XLVIII, No 26, June 19, 2010 mainstreamweekly.net
• "Venereal Disease, Prostitution, and the Politics of Empire: The Case of British India" by Phillipa Levine Journal of the History of Sexuality Vol. 4, No. 4, Apr., 1994 pages 579-602 html version, pdf calstatela.edu
• "Sexually transmitted diseases and the Raj" by R Basu Roy Sexually Transmitted Infections 1998;74:20–26 (PubMed Central)
• "Soldiers, Surgeons and the Campaigns to Combat Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Colonial India, 1805-1860" by Douglas M Peers Medical History 1998 April; 42(2): 137–160. (PubMed Central)
• "Sexually transmitted diseases in nineteenth and twentieth century India" by David Arnold Genitourinary Medicine 1993 February; 69(1): 3–8. (PubMed Central)
• "Stimulation, Segregation and Scandal: Geographies of Prostitution Regulation in British India, between Registration (1888) and Suppression (1923)" by Stephen Legg Modern Asian Studies 46, 6 (2012) pp. 1459–1505. nottingham.ac.uk
• "British Army Spine Pads" [a part of the uniform] by Stuart Bates , April 27, 2012 militarysunhelmets.com
• Fleas, Faith and Politics: Anatomy of an Indian Epidemic, 1890-1925 [Bubonic Plague] by Natasha Sarkar (M.A.), Bombay University. Links to a pdf download. A thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of History, National University of Singapore 2011 Direct pdf link
• Another Madras first [The first pharmaceutical society in India] by S. Muthiah, 11 May 2009 The Hindu
• The ‘Apostle of Mesmerism in India’ Dr James Esdaile. Appointed Bengal Medical Service 1831, returned to England in 1851. British Library-Untold lives blog 25 January 2013.
• Jungle trees and their uses British Library-Untold lives blog 16 April 2013
• "The Imperial Cocktail: How the gin and tonic became the British Empire’s secret weapon" by Kal Raustiala August 28, 2013 www.slate.com
• The British Salt Tax. How Damaging? by Anuraag Sanghi July 29, 2011. Includes a link to Salt Starvation in British India – Consequences of High Salt Taxation in the Bengal Presidency, 1765 to 1878 by Roy Moxham, now an archived webpage.
• Schedule of Station Hospitals for British Troops 1899 Scroll down for India. scarletfinders.co.uk
• "Health Hazards …Stationed in India" by former Sergeant Donald C. Thyer, Royal Engineers Survey 1945-1947 britains-smallwars.com, now archived.

Historical books online

• For books on Indian medicinal plants and drugs see Scientific books online - Botany in British India
• Observations on Hepatic Diseases, Incidental to Europeans, in the East-Indies by Stephen Mathews, Surgeon 1783 Google Books
• Select evidences of a successful method of treating fever and dysentery in Bengal by John Peter Wade. The cases occurred in the general hospital at Chunar. 1791 Google Books
• A Paper on the Prevention and Treatment of the Disorders of Seamen and Soldiers in Bengal by John Peter Wade M.D. 1793 Google Books
• ‪An account of the diseases of India, as they appeared in the English Fleet, and in the naval hospital at Madras in 1782 and 1783‬: ‪with observations on ulcers, and the hospital sores of that country etc. to which is prefixed, a view of the diseases on an expedition, and passage of a fleet and armament to India, in 1781‬ by Charles Curtis, formerly Surgeon of the Medea Frigate 1807 Google Books
• Account of the introduction of the cow pox into India by George Keir, MD. Printed at Bombay 1803 Archive.org
• A practical essay on some of the principal surgical diseases of India by F H Brett, Bengal Medical Service. 1840 Archive.org
• “Report no.28: Reports on the Asylums for European and Native Insane Patients at Bhowanipore and Dullunda for 1856 and 1857” from Selections from the Records of the Government of Bengal 1858 Google Books
• The Prison and the Mad House. Being the Narrative of a Visit Paid to the Alipore Jail ... and to the Bhowanipore and Dullunda Asylums by Mr. T. H. Lloyd, Etc. [Reprinted from the Calcutta “Englishman.”] 1858 Google Books
• Annual Report on the Insane Asylums in Bengal for the year... 1862, published 1863; 1870, published 1871 Google Books
• A concise essay on the medical treatment of Malabar coolies employed on the coffee estates of Ceylon and India by J. Thwaites M D 1865 Archive.org
• Report on the Drainage and Conservancy of Calcutta by David Boyes Smith M.D., Sanitary Commissioner for Bengal 1869 Google Books
• From England to the Antipodes & India - 1846 to 1902, with startling revelations, or 56 years of my life in the Indian Mutiny, Police & Jails, pages 46-52 by Isaac Tyrell (1904) Archive.org, describe a cholera epidemic in the 43rd Regiment of Foot in 1857 when 48 men, 6 women and 26 children died in a few days. Page 36 describes successful, but non conventional, treatment for dysentery, c 1854-1855, the author was then in the 96th Regiment of Foot.
• On the preservation of the health of seamen, especially of those frequenting Calcutta and the other Indian ports by Norman Chevers MD, Surgeon, Bengal Army 1864 Google Books
• Fourth Annual report on the working of the lock-hospitals in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh for the year 1877 1878 Archive.org
• Annual reports on the working of the lock hospitals in British Burma, Central Provinces, North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Madras Presidency, Punjab . Reports cover 1873-1890. National Library of Scotland “Medical History of British Burma”
• Copy of a Circular Memorandum by the Quarter-Master General in India dated 17 June 1886 concerning measures to reduce the spread of venereal disease among soldiers. Page 246 War and the breed; the relation of war to the downfall of nations by Davis Starr Jordan 1915 Archive.org
• The Queen's Daughters in India by Elizabeth W. Andrew and Katharine C. Bushnell 1899 Archive.org.
  • Regimental brothels page 15. These were set up under the Cantonment Act 1864.

Investigation and Report by two American missionaries into the government sanctioned brothels in British Army cantonments. It is believed the authors visited India after the Cantonment Act of 1889, perhaps c early 1890s.

• The Cantonment Act of 1897, page 12 A Manual of Venereal Diseases by Officers of the Royal Army Medical Corps 1907 Archive.org. A report on Venereal Disease in the Army.
• Under the Surface by L [Louisa] Martindale, M.D., B.S. 2nd edition, first published c 1907 has two chapters relevant to prostitution in cantonments in India. Chapter V appears to imply the system was still in existence in 1907, and refers to the Cantonments Code of 1899
• Under the Raj : Prostitution in Colonial Bengal by Sumanta Banerjee 1998. Archive.org Lending Library. (First time borrowers must first register.)
• "Cholera in the Army in India Over a Hundred Years Ago" [1813 treatment] by Major W. W. S. Sharpe Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps 1929;53:5 pages 382-385
• Article Hindu medical treatment for Spasmodic Cholera Madras Courier January 12 1819, (pages 2-3 of the book file). Also includes an additional comment about Inocuation for the Cow-Pox known to Hindu Medical writers (page 3 of the book file). There is a comment here under “Description” about this part of the article. Archive.org
• An Essay on the Epidemic Cholera of India by Reginald Orton, Surgeon 2nd edition 1831 (first published c 1820) Google Books
• Sketches of the Most Prevalent Diseases of India: Comprising, a Treatise on the Epidemic Cholera of the East, Statistical and Topographical Reports of the Diseases in the Different Divisions of the Army Under the Madras Presidency ... : Illustrated by Tables and Plates by James Annesley Madras Medical Establishment 1825 Google Books Archive.org version has a map.
• Notes on the Epidemic Cholera by R H Kennedy Surgeon Bombay Presidency. Published at Calcutta. 1827 Google Books.
  • An article about this book, page 110 The Monthly Journal of Foreign Medicine February 1828 : Originally from the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal. Google Books
• An account of the rise and progress of the Indian or spasmodic cholera :with a particular description of the symptoms attending the disease : illustrated by a map, showing the route and progress of the disease, from Jessore, near the Ganges, in 1817, to Great Britain, in 1831.Published New Haven : L.H. Young, 1832. pds.lib.harvard.edu
• Cholera, its symptoms, causes, and remedies by Thomas Alexander Wise late Indian Medical Staff 1864 Google Books
• Epidemic Cholera in the Bengal Presidency A report on the cholera of 1866-68, and its relations to the cholera of previous epidemics by James L. Bryden , Surgeon, Bengal Army 1869 Google Books
• A Treatise on Asiatic Cholera by C Macnamara, Surgeon to the Calcutta Ophthalmic Hospital 1870 Archive.org

" India: Bengal. Report" by C. Macnamara, Medical Officer-in-Charge of the "Chandnie" Hospital, Calcutta, and Surgeon to the Ophthalmic Hospital. Page 87 ‪Reports on the progress of practical and scientific medicine, ed. by H. Dobell, Volume 2‬, 1871.Google Books. Includes a section on "Asiatic Cholera", and also "The Epidemic Fever of Bengal", malarial disease.

A History of Asiatic Cholera by C. Macnamara 1876 Archive.org.

• Rules regarding the measures to be adopted on the outbreak of cholera or appearance of small-pox (G.O.C.C. No 193, dated 3rd August 1870) 1870 Google Books
• The Asiatic or Bengal Cholera of 1867 to 1873 by John C. Peters. 1874. Reprinted from Volume 1, Public Health Papers of American Public Health Association. Archive.org
• "Cholera in the Army in India Nearly Fifty Years Ago" [c 1881] by Major-General W. H. Ogilvie Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps 1927;49:1 pages 63-65
• Indian Snake Poisons, their Nature and Effects by A J Wall, MD, of the Medical Staff, HM’s Indian Army. 1883 Archive.org
• Poisoning in India by Sir J Fayrer 1885 Archive.org. Includes a sect of Thugs called Daturiahs.

Sir J Fayrer also wrote on deaths caused by wild animals, including snakes, see Scientific books online - Animals.

• A glimpse at the Indian mission field and leper asylums in 1886-87 [by Wellesley Crosby Bailey] 1890 Archive.org
• "In Plague Time" The Purnea cholera epidemic of 1887 page 14 The other way: respectfully dedicated to all good housewives by Ernest Forbes 1899 Archive.org
• The plague in India, 1896, 1897 by R Nathan, Indian Civil Service. Government of India Home Department 1898 Archive.org
  • Volume 1: Report, Volume 2 Appendices I to VI, Volume 3 Appendices VII to XII, Volume 4 Maps and Charts.
• Minutes of Evidence taken by the Indian Plague Commission. Presented to both Houses of Parliament . Published 1900 Archive.org Volume I, Volume II, Volume III
• For reports on Rats in connection with plague research, see Scientific books online
• Notes ... for the guidance of troops and all others proceeding into the Hill Tracts of the Northern Circars. [With a letter on the same subject from E. A. Samuells] by George Thomas Haly 1855 Google Books. Regarding malaria treatment (in an area in Madras Presidency along the western side of the Bay of Bengal)
• The Abyssinian Expedition and the Management of Troops in the Field in Unhealthy Locations by Colonel G T Haly (late of the 108th Foot)1867 Archive.org
• Climate and medical topography in their relation to the disease-distribution of the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan districts of British India : with reasons for assigning a malarious origin to goitre and some other diseases by F N MacNamara, Surgeon Major (Retired) Indian Medical Service. 1880 Archive.org
• Mosquitoes and Malaria : a summary of knowledge on the subject up to date; with an account of the natural history of some mosquitoes by Cuthbert Christy, Special Medical Officer on Plague Duty for the Indian Government 1900 Archive.org. Christy also wrote in 1930 Notes on the Prevention of Malaria - a review.
• "The Prevention of Malaria in War, With Special Reference to the Indian Army" by Major Clifford A. Gill Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps 1917; 29:4 439-456. Includes: The Prevalence of Malaria in the Indian Army. The Nature of the Malaria Problem. The Prevention of Malaria amongst Troops.
• Memoirs, with a Full Account of the Great Malaria Problem and its Solution by Ronald Ross 1923 Archive.org. The author Ronald Ross (Wikipedia) , Madras Medical Service 1881-1899 was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1902 for his work on malaria, researched while he was in India.
• "Enteric Fever Amongst the British Troops in India" by Major T McCulloch RAMC page 412 Army Medical Department Report for the Year 1900, HMSO published 1902. Archive.org. States that younger soldiers, and those newly arrived in India were most affected.
• Enteric fever in India and in other tropical and sub-tropical regions: a study in epidemiology and military hygiene by Ernest Roberts, Major, Indian Medical Service. 1906 Archive.org
  • "Table I: Sickness and Mortality in the Bengal Presidency [British Troops]". Compares 1860-69 rates with 1890-97 rates. page 14
  • Cantonments and their latrines page 68.
• "Incineration in Cantonments in India" by Capt P S Lelean RAMS, Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps 1911;17:4 341-360. Archive.org version
• "Typhoid Fever: Tropical climates" includes Poona and Nasirabad, pages 136-142 Flies in Relation to Disease: Non-bloodsucking Flies by G. S. Graham- Smith. 1913 Archive.org.
• Books on Leprosy in India Archive.org.
• On Duty under a Tropical Sun : being some practical suggestions for the maintenance of health and bodily comfort and the treatment of simple diseases, with remarks on clothing and equipment for the guidance of travellers in tropical countries by Major S Leigh Hunt Madras Army and Alexander S Kenny 1882 Archive.org. Includes military matters.

Tropical Trials. A Hand-book for Women in the Tropics by Major S Leigh Hunt Madras Army and Alexander S Kenny. 1883 Archive.org.

• Tropical hygiene for residents in tropical and sub-tropical climates by Sir Charles Pardey Lukis, Robert James Blackham, 3rd edition 1915 Archive.org
• Report of the committee appointed by the government of India to examine the question of the reorganization of the medical services in India (president: Sir Verney Lovett) April, 1919. Published 1920 Archive.org
• Practical observations of the hygiene of the army in India : including remarks of the ventilation and conservancy of Indian prisons ; with a chapter on prison management by Stewart Clark MRCS, Inspector-General of Prisons, North-West Provinces, India 1861 Archive.org
• [Volume A] ‪Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Inquire into the Sanitary State of the Army in India‬: ‪With Précis of Evidence‬ ‪Presented to both Houses of Parliament 1863 Archive.org.

[Volume B] Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Inquire into the Sanitary State of the Army in India : with Abstract of Evidence, and of Reports Received from Indian Military Stations 1864 with Map of India showing the Military Stations c 1864 and "Abstract of Sanitary Details in Reports from Principal Military Stations in Bengal" page 335 (Madras Presidency page 403 Bombay 443) Archive.org. The first 156 pages in Volume B is the same information as the first 196 pages in Volume A. Volume B also contains

[Volume C] Observations on the evidence contained in the Stational Reports submitted to her by the Royal Commission on the Sanitary State of the Army in India by Florence Nightingale 1863

Volumes A, B, C overlap and form part of the contents of two additional publications Volumes I and II, which contain the detailed evidence given to the Commissioners.

Report of Royal Commission on the Sanitary State of the Army in India. Pdf download, GIPE Digitised Books, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune. Titles as catalogued.

Vol. 1: Report of the Commissioners Minutes of Evidence. Part. II (632 pages)

Vol. 2: Appendix Report of the Commissioners Minutes of Evidence. Part. II (488 pages)

Vol. II: Appendix, 1. Reports from stations in India and its dependencies occupied by British and by native troops. 2. Reports of inspectors-general of hospitals. 3. Reports on stations in Ceylon (959 pages)

Also available on the subscription website "House of Commons Parliamentary Papers", as part of Paper number 3184 of 1863 - Document type: Command Papers; Reports Of Commissioners.

• The sanitary history of the British army in India, past and present by Sir J Ranald Martin 1868 Archive.org. Reprinted from the Lancet.
• Abstract of the proceedings of the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of India, for the months of January, February, March and April 1870 Google Books
• The Prevention of Disease in Tropical and Sub-Tropical Campaigns by Andrew Duncan Surgeon, Bengal Army 1888 Archive.org
  • Page 22 onwards. The age of 25 is most suitable for campaigning in the tropics, and no man should be sent to India under age 20.
• Prevention of Disease and Inefficiency, with special reference to Indian Frontier Warfare by Lieut.-Col. Patrick Hehir IMS, Officiating Principal Medical Officer, Burma Division. 2nd Edition - Illustrated and Revised.1911 Archive.org
• Notes on Sanitation for Indian troops by T. F. Paterson, Captain, Indian Medical Service. 2nd edition, edited by Major D.R. Thapar, 1933, originally published 1911, In English and Roman Urdu. Wellcome Library Digital Collection, catalogue reference RAMC/184
• Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1893 -94. Volume 1: Report, Volume 2: Appendices - Enquiry as to the Connection Between Hemp Drugs and Insanity, Volume 3: Appendices – Miscellaneous, Volume 4: Evidence of Witnesses from Bengal and Assam, Volume 5: Evidence of Witnesses from North-Western Provinces and Oudh and Punjab, (not digitized at August 2014), Volume 6: Evidence of Witnesses from Central Provinces and Madras, Volume 7: Evidence of Witnesses from Bombay, Sind, Berar, Ajmere, Coorg, Baluchistan and Burma, Volume 8: Supplementary Volume - Answers Received to Selected Questions for the Native Army. National Library of Scotland-Medical History of British India
• A medico-topographical account of Jeypore: based on the experience of twenty years' service as Residency Surgeon and thirteen as Superintendent of Dispensaries at Jeypore, Rajputana [Jaipur] by Brigade-Surgeon Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Holbein Hendley Bengal Medical Department 1895 Archive.org
• “The Cocaine Traffic in India” page 949 Current History: A Monthly Magazine of the New York Times Volume 16, April- September 1922 Archive.org
• Around the world via India : a medical tour by Nicholas Senn 1905. Contains chapters on India and Ceylon, including hospitals. Archive.org
• A domestic guide to mothers in India, containing particular instructions on the management of themselves and their children by a Medical Practitioner of Several Years Experience in India. Printed in Bombay 1836. Archive.org.
• Hints for the general management of children in India, in the absence of professional advice. Title and authors subsequently varied over time: Goodeve's hints for the general management of children in India 7th edition 1879 Entirely rewritten by Edward A Birch, Surgeon-Major, Bengal Establishment; The management and medical treatment of children in India; Birch's Management And Medical Treatment Of Children In India; Birch's Management And Medical Treatment Of Children In India And The Tropics.

4th edition 1856 by Dr H H Goodeve First published 1844. 7th edition 1879 Entirely rewritten by Edward A Birch, Surgeon-Major, Bengal Establishment. Became Birch’s 1st edition. 2nd edition 1886, 3rd edition 1895, 5th edition 1913 Updated by C R M Green and V B Green-Armytage. All Archive.org. 1929 edition by V. B.Green-Armytage and E.H.Vere Hodge, 8th edition 1933 by E. H. Vere Hodge 1933, Archive.org version; 9th edition 1933, Archive.org version. Latter three, pdf downloads, Digital Library of India, with mirror digital files on Archive.org

• "List of Stations at which Military Family Hospitals are authorised" An Appendix from Regulations for the Medical Services of the Army of India 1930 National Library of Scotland 'Medical History of British India' digital books
• "The Spine Pad: A Discarded Item of Tropical Clothing: An Historical and Physiological Survey" by E. T. Renbourn Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps 1956;102:4 pages 217-233. Also includes helmets.