Ross, Donald Mars Morphett (1865-1921)

The collection consists of diaries, correspondence and other papers from the period in which Ross was medical officer of the coolie ship Hong Bee, travelling between Penang and the China coast via Hong Kong.

1910-1916

2 volumes and 1 file manuscript and some printed material; bound and loose papers.

MSS. 4260-4261 comprise diaries in chronological order of composition; MS. 6117 comprises loose papers.

Purchased from Stevens', London, 1934

Donald Mars Morphett Ross was born in 1865 and trained at Edinburgh University, graduating M.B. and C.M in 1888. He was Assistant Medical Superintendent to the Cumberland and Westmoreland Asylum before moving to the West Indies, where he was a Medical Officer in Jamaica. In the years prior to the First World War he served as a ship's medical officer in the Far East; during the War he served as a Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He died in 1921.

Database description transcribed from S.A.J. Moorat, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1962-1973) and Richard Palmer, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Wellcome Library for the History & Understanding of Medicine: Western Manuscripts 5120-6244 (London: The Wellcome Library for the History & Understanding of Medicine, 1999).

A microfilm of MS.6117 is held by Wellcome Images.