Indian Medical Service, IMS (RAMC/AMS)

[Farkas]

Hello Gents,

 

I’ve got a few pieces of uniform named to different IMS officers, the earliest is Victorian, that lead me to find out a little more but of course I found more questions than answers…

 

So, is anyone out there interested in the IMS? or RAMC in India?

 

cheers

tony 🍻

[Farkas]

Hello Gents,

I’m aiming to get pictures of a few bits of some IMS uniforms I have posted on here but I’m still reading up on what’s what for now.

 

Just sussed something…

 

 

I knew they were, Queen Victoria,King Edward vii and King George V buttons and I didn’t  focus on them yet. I thought they were bad quality designs.

 

Queen Victoria , VRi, with a different crown

King Edward Vii , ERVii

is ‘ER1’

(normal crown)

King George V , GRV

is ‘GR1’

(different crown)

They are in fact correct, each were the ‘first Kings Edward/George of India’…

 

That was new to me.

 

Cheers tony

[Graf]

On 30/11/2023 at 18:28, Farkas said:

Hello Gents,

I’m aiming to get pictures of a few bits of some IMS uniforms I have posted on here but I’m still reading up on what’s what for now.

 

Just sussed something…

 

 

I knew they were, Queen Victoria,King Edward vii and King George V buttons and I didn’t  focus on them yet. I thought they were bad quality designs.

 

Queen Victoria , VRi, with a different crown

King Edward Vii , ERVii

is ‘ER1’

(normal crown)

King George V , GRV

is ‘GR1’

(different crown)

They are in fact correct, each were the ‘first Kings Edward/George of India’…

 

That was new to me.

 

Cheers tony

Nice

[Farkas]

Hello Gents,

A summary of the history of the IMS.

 

Prior to 1764, all medical officers in the employ of the East India Company  were unranked. There were two grades of medical officer:

• Head Surgeon
• Surgeon

In 1764 came the formation of the Indian Medical Service (IMS) Thereafter there were four primary ranks of medical officer.
From 1769, The Surgeon-General (at other times designated Physician-General or Chief Surgeon) headed the service, while Head Surgeons, who ranked immediately below, nominally oversaw the main military hospitals in the subcontinent, though the exact scope of their authority remained vague. Below the Head Surgeons were Surgeons, followed by Hospital Mates. Very soon, Head Surgeons were redesignated Surgeon-Majors, with Hospital Mates becoming Assistant Surgeons. Apart from the Surgeon-General or his equivalent, all medical officers ranked with warrant officers. 

In 1785, The rank of Surgeon-Major was apparently discontinued and replaced by the former rank of Head Surgeon. 

In 1786, formal three-member Medical Boards were established, with one Board for each Presidency.

In 1788, medical officers were reclassified as commissioned officers but this wasn’t comparable with military status.

In 1807, the rank of Superintending Surgeon was officially introduced, having been informally used since around 1803. Ranking above Head Surgeons (redesignated Senior Surgeons around this time), they supplanted them as professional administrators of military hospitals. Each army division was allotted a Superintending Surgeon. 

In 1842, the three positions on each Medical Board were ranked in order of seniority as Physician-General, Surgeon-General and Inspector-General of Hospitals, respectively. 

In 1843, the East India Company formalized equivalent military ranks for medical officers.

 

In 1858 the British government dissolved the East India Company and asserted its rule over India.

It abolished the Medical Boards and replaced the appointments of Physician-General and Surgeon-General with a single Director-General. Superintending Surgeons were also redesignated Deputy Inspectors-General at the same time.
The ranks of the medical service thus became:

• Director-General/Inspector-General - ranking with Brigadier-Generals
• Deputy Inspectors-General - ranking with Lieutenant-Colonels
• Senior Surgeons - ranking with Majors
• Surgeons - ranking with Captains
• Assistant Surgeons - ranking with Lieutenants

 

In 1862, the rank of Director-General was briefly redesignated as Principal Inspector-General, but the former designation was restored in 1866.

In 1869 followed the redesignation of Director-General as Inspector-General. 

In 1873, A new ranking system was introduced…

• Surgeon-General - ranking with Brigadier-Generals
• Deputy Surgeons-General - ranking with Lieutenant-Colonels
• Surgeons-Major - ranking with Majors
• Surgeons (6+ years of service) - ranking with Captains
• Surgeons (less than 6 years of service) - ranking with Lieutenants

 

In 1880, again a new ranking system was introduced. The rank of Brigade Surgeon was introduced and all Surgeons regardless of their date of joining were ranked as Captains. 

The IMS ranks were then as follows…

• Surgeon-General - ranking with Brigadier-General
• Deputy Surgeons-General - ranking with Colonels
• Brigade Surgeons - ranking with Lieutenant-Colonels
• Surgeons-Major - ranking with Majors
• Surgeons - ranking with Captains

 

In 1884 the medical officers of the Army Medical Department were brought together with the quartermasters who provided their supplies to form the Army Medical Staff. The Army Medical Staff was given command of the Medical Staff Corps, which consisted entirely of other ranks.

The next years following this reshuffle were not without problems. This is no surprise once you read the following 👇

The root cause of unhappiness in the Army Medical Service in the following years came as medical officers did not have military rank but instead…

"advantages corresponding to relative military rank"

(((such as choice of quarters, rates of lodging money, servants, fuel and light, allowances on account of injuries received in action, and pensions and allowances to widows and families)))

- They had inferior pay in India.

- They had to serve long periods of Indian and colonial service, in India they were required to serve for six years at a stretch.

- They received very little recognition in the way of honours and awards.
- They did not have their own identity as did, for example, the Army Service Corps, whose officers did have the status of a military rank.

1887 -1889

For over two years from 27 July 1887 there were no recruits to the Army Medical Department. A number of complaints were published, and the British Medical Journal were among those that campaigned loudly.

In 1890, A parliamentary committee report highlighted the doctors' injustices. There was no response from the Secretary of State for War. 
The British Medical Association, the Royal College of Physicians and others redoubled their protests.

In 1891, for the first time, IMS officers were given formal military ranks corresponding to those of their British Indian Army counterparts. The appointment of Surgeon-General was upgraded to that of a Major-General, with the title of Surgeon Major-General. The rank of Surgeon-Lieutenant was also introduced this year.

In 1895, the head of the service was named its Director-General, holding the rank and appointment of a Surgeon-General (Surgeon Major-General).

IMS military ranks dropped the prefix of "Surgeon" in 1898.

 

25 June 1898

At long last, by authority of a royal warrant signed by Queen Victoria, the officers and soldiers providing medical services were incorporated into a new body known by, then and to this day, the Royal Army Medical Corps, the RAMC.

Well Gents, I thank you if you’ve made it this far 🍻.
I’ve a fair bit more to ‘suss out’. This is all about background I need to have to make sense of my IMS bits and bobs.
The IMS and the RAMC were separate but with a relationship that existed for nearly 50 years.

 

Cheers

tony 🍻

 

 

PS

We Brit colonisers weren’t without our benefits 👇

 

From an Indian article…

The British Imperial government set up and strengthened an organized medical system in Colonial India that replaced the indigenous Indian and Arabic medicine systems. Slow progress in early years was due to indifference on the part of people and a lack of funds and medical professionals on the part of the government. The people of India resisted the British colonialism, and they were reluctant to support any services by the foreign government. These trends slowly changed as the natives were educated according to the British system. They then decided to serve in Indian civil and military services and lessen their hardships by taking part in government affairs. That is why Indian Medical Services flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century. There were dramatic improvements in medical and sanitary conditions in British India. 

The IMS efficiently coped up with deadly epidemics like the plague and cholera. Almost all the diseases prevalent at that time in India like small pox, leprosy, and malaria were controlled successfully. There were very few epidemics in later years and many of the diseases were almost eradicated. Officers and researchers of Indian Medical Services contributed a lot to the study and prevention of diseases. The role of medical officers serving in India should be better judged by their aspirations, priorities, and limitations. Although the archetypical colonial design of medical services, Eurocentric policies, and neglect of the indigenous population failed to relieve the plight of the poor for many years, the work completed during that period of time formed the basis of what we have achieved today to improve the health of people

 

When the British Empire came into power in India, they faced the challenge of a new set of diseases that were endemic in that region. India was a vast country with environments ranging from the world's highest mountains to plain green fields, and from tropical forests to barren deserts. Such a diverse region had its own peculiar diseases, which were difficult to prevent with the limited resources of the IMS. Enormous amounts of work was done for the prevention of epidemics to save the lives of people in India in general, and the Imperial troops and officers, in particular. Epidemic diseases that had devastating effects during that period were plague, leprosy, cholera, and malaria. The British government took great efforts to prevent diseases but due to insufficient medical officers and funds, the major target was to alleviate suffering and render curative services as it was solely a state responsibility during that period with virtually no volunteer or private-sector organizations. Prevention and environmental hygiene had long been neglected. It wasn’t until the late 19th century that the government realized that many deaths could be prevented and public health services were strengthened.

 

The medical corps of the Indian Army was initially complex and medical duties were divided between different organisations. For example, The Indian Medical Service was responsible for the welfare of Indian soldiers and their British officers as well as for British officials and their dependant families and staffed by British doctors. The Indian Medical Department was composed of mixed race Anglo-Indians who could treat both British and Indian troops as well having Indian doctors who were permitted to treat only Indian troops. There was also the Army Hospital Corps (which administered hospitals for British troops and supplied male nurses) and the Army Bearer Corps (which provided stretcher bearers). 

 

In 1920 great changes were introduced and the AHC and the ABC were merged to become The Indian Hospital Corps.

 

In 1943, the Medical Department, the Indian Medical Service and the Hospital Corps were finally amalgamated to become one all-embracing Indian Army Medical Corps.