A biographical sketch of James Ranald Martin, Esq., F.R.S., surgeon in the Bengal Army, and late Presidency Surgeon and Surgeon to the Native Hospital of Calcutta.

Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A biographical sketch of James Ranald Martin, Esq., F.R.S., surgeon in the Bengal Army, and late Presidency Surgeon and Surgeon to the Native Hospital of Calcutta. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    The Marquess of Hastings, having heard both the medical statements, ordered Mr. Martin into his presence, and having entirely approved and confirmed his views, the Governor- General ordered the improvement of the regimental hospital, of the men’s huts, the construction of tanks for pure water, and the draining, clearing, and levelling of the entire canton- ment. In this way, Mr. Martin’s statements received from this eminent soldier-statesman their due consideration and adoption. Mr. Martin’s health continued so shattered, at the beginning of 1822, by the fevers of the year previous, that in March of this year he was ordered to proceed to sea for the recovery of his health, and took passage in a ship then sailing for the Isle of France. Here we must refer to a very remarkable incident. Mr. Martin had formed an intimate friendship, while serving in Orissa, with Lieutenant Randle Jackson, of the Bengal Artillery, at this time aide-de-camp to the Marquess of Hastings. Captain Jackson was also ill, and he begged Mr. Martin to postpone his departure for a fortnight, when he would accompany him. It thus hap- pened that Mr. Martin’s life, and probably the lives of both friends, were saved. Of three ships which left Calcutta for the Isle of France at this time, they were fortunately in the sole survivor. It was the hurricane season olF the Mauritius, and the ship in which Mr. Martin had first taken his passage foundered off that island, as did also the last of the three ships. Captain Jackson died oflP St. Helena, twelve years afterwards, when coming home to England to the inheritance of an enormous fortune. On recovering his health, in 1823, Mr. Martin returned from the Mauritius, and rejoined the Body-guard in Calcutta, when he was selected by the then Governor-General, Lord Amherst, to proceed to Hyderabad, to afford professional aid to the Resident, Sir Charles Metcalfe, then dangerously ill of a disease requiring surgical aid. On the successful completion of this duty, he returned to Bengal, accompanied by Sir Charles Metcalfe. After remaining some months in Calcutta, Sir Charles Metcalfe, then about to return