Doctor

See also, details of some individual Doctors and Surgeons.

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.

For Assistant Surgeons from 1894, refer Apothecary

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 The East-India register was superseded by what was initially called The Indian army and civil service list.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 and the earlier British Army Medical Services

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

First World War

• The National Archives’ Service Records for the First World War: women and medical personnel advises:

Many doctors were granted temporary commissions in the RAMC. Unfortunately, as the RAMC (Temp) officers only served for the duration of the war, their service records were destroyed after 1920. Those for RAMC officers who received permanent commissions between 1871 and 1922, accessible via the index in WO 338/23, are listed in WO 339

The catalogue entry for WO 339 advises it includes records of British reserve officers who were commissioned into the Indian Army.

• RAMC in the Great War: Researching the RAMC
• The Royal Army Medical Corps of 1914-1918 www.1914-1918.net

Historical books online

• Roll of Commissioned Officers in the Medical Service of the British Army, who served on full pay within the period between the accession of George II and the formation of the Royal Army Medical Corps, 20 June 1727 to 23 June 1898, with an introduction showing the historical evolution of the Corps by William Johnston 1917 Archive.org

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.
• Salaries of Indian Medical Officers in Calcutta c 1860, page 324 Medical Times and Gazette, Volume 1 1860 (published London) Google Books
• A code of medical and sanitary regulations for the guidance of Medical Officers serving in the Madras Presidency Volume 1, Volume 2 by William Robert Cornish 1870 Google Books
• "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)
• Transactions of the Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta Volume 4 1829, Volume 7 1835 Google Books
• 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

• The Madras Monthly Journal of Medical Science, Volume 2 July-December 1870 Google Books
• 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, No X New Series 1870 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)
• Entrance requirements c 1872, page 172, Index Scholasticus: Sons and daughters. A guide to parents in the choice of educational institutions, preparatory to professional or other occupation of their children by R. Kemp Philp 1872 (Archive.org)
• 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 Doctors and Surgeons 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.

Civil Surgeons

Civil Surgeons, it seems, led demanding and frustrating lives although the pay was better than in the Military and the range of professional duties greater.

• "Civil Surgeons in India The Indian Medical Gazette Volume 3, page 272 1868. Google Books
• History of Medicine in India, page 168 by Chittabrata Palit 2005. Preview Google Books

Assistant Surgeons, and sometimes Surgeons, in civil employment were often Superintendent of Jails

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.