Charles Morehead CIE

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(8 February 1807 – 24 August 1882) was a 19th-century Scottish physician who rose to eminence in the

Indian Medical Service The Indian Medical Service (IMS) was a military medical service in British India, which also had some civilian functions. It served during the two World Wars, and remained in existence until the independence of India in 1947. Many of its officer ...

for his contribution to medical education. He was the founding principal of the Grant Medical College in Bombay in 1845.

Life

Morehead was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

to Margaret (daughter of Charles Wilson, Professor of Church History at the University of St. Andrews) and Rev. Dr

Robert Morehead Robert Morehead FRSE (9 March 1777 – 13 December 1842) was a Scottish clergyman and poet who served as Dean of Edinburgh from 1818 to 1832. Life Morehead was born on 9 March 1777 near Stirling in central Scotland, the son of Isabella Lockhart ...

DD. He was younger brother to William Ambrose Morehead. The family lived at 1 Hill Street in

Edinburgh's New Town The New Town is a central area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was built in stages between 1767 and around 1850, and retains much of its original neo-classical and Georgian period architecture. Its best known street is Princes Street ...

. Educated at the High School in Edinburgh, he then studied medicine at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

graduating with an MD in 1828, and undertaking further studies in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. His teachers in Edinburgh included

George Jardine Rev George Jardine FRSE (1742–January 28, 1827) was a Scottish minister of religion, philosopher, academic and educator. He was Professor at the University of Glasgow, of Greek from 1774, and then Professor of Logic and Rhetoric 1787 to 1824. ...

and

William Pulteney Alison William Pulteney Alison FRSE FRCPE FSA (12 November 1790 – 22 September 1859) was a Scottish physician, social reformer and philanthropist. He was a distinguished professor of medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He served as president ...

and in Paris including

Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis Pierre-Charles-Alexandre Louis (14 April 178722 August 1872) was a French physician, clinician and pathology, pathologist known for his studies on tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and pneumonia, but Louis's greatest contribution to medicine was the de ...

(1787-1872) and Rene Laennec. In 1829 he went to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

to serve in the Bombay Medical Service linked to the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

working under

Sir Robert Grant Sir Robert Grant GCH (1779 – 9 July 1838) was a British lawyer and politician. He was born in Bombay, India in 1779. Grant , his older brother and father moved to England in 1790. In 1807, after studying law at Magdalene College, Cambridge, ...

. In 1835 they jointly founded the Grant Medical College, Morehead being its Principal from 1845. The first batch of students graduated in 1851 and included

Atmaram Pandurang Atmaram Pandurang or Atmaram Pandurang Turkhadekar (or just Turkhad in English publications) (1823 – 26 April 1898) was an Indian physician and social reformer who founded the Prarthana Samaj and was one of the two Indian co-founders (the other ...

, J.C. Lisboa, Sebastian de Carvalho, Anunta Chandroba,

Bhau Daji Ramachandra Vitthal Lad (1824–1874), commonly known as Bhau Daji Lad was an Indian physician, Sanskrit scholar, and an antiquarian. Early life and education Lad was born in 1822 in a Gaud Saraswat Brahmin family in Mandrem (Manjari) Goa. ...

, Paul C. Gomes, Merwanji Sorabji, and Burjorji Dorabji. In 1857 he was made honorary surgeon to the Queen. From 1859 to 1862 he was Deputy Inspector General of Hospitals for all India. He retired in 1862 due to ill-health and although offered a professorship at the Netley Hospital, he declined it and returned to his native city of

. His position as principal was succeeded by John Peet. In 1866 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

his proposer was

John Hutton Balfour John Hutton Balfour (15 September 1808 – 11 February 1884) was a Scottish botanist. Balfour became a Professor of Botany, first at the University of Glasgow in 1841, moving to the University of Edinburgh and also becoming the 7th Regius Keepe ...

. In later life he lived at 11 North Manor Place in Edinburgh's West End. In 1881, shortly before his death,

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

created him a Companion of the

Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (GCIE) #Knight Commander ( KCIE) #Companion ( CIE) No appoi ...

. He died at

Wilton Castle Wilton Castle is a 12th-century Norman castle located in south-eastern Herefordshire, England on the River Wye adjacent to the town of Ross-on-Wye. The castle is named after the manor associated with it. This castle in Herefordshire, st ...

on 24 August 1882. He was returned to Edinburgh for burial in

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and on ...

where his grave lies in the south-west spur.

Publications

*''Researches into the Diseases of India'' (1856)

Family

In 1844 he married Harriet Anne daughter of George Barnes, Archdeacon of Bombay. She died in 1846.

References

External links

Memorial of the life and work of Charles Morehead
(1884)
Clinical researches on disease in India
(1860) 1807 births 1882 deaths Medical doctors from Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Burials at the Dean Cemetery Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Indian Medical Service officers {{Scotland-med-bio-stub