Indian Medical Service

Among its notable ranks, the IMS had Sir Ronald Ross, a Nobel Prize winner, Sir Benjamin Franklin, later honorary physician to three British monarchs and Henry Vandyke Carter, best known for his illustrations in the anatomy textbook Gray's Anatomy.

The earliest positions for medical officers in the British East India Company (formed as the Association of Merchant Adventurers in 1599 and receiving the royal charter on the last day of 1600) were as ship surgeons.

The first three surgeons to have served were John Banester on the Leicester, Lewis Attmer on the Edward and Rober on the Francis.

Gabriel Boughton is said to have saved Shah Jahan's daughter princess Jahanara from injuries due to burns.

[4] Samuel Browne served around 1694 at Fort St. George, Madras from where he also reported on his botanical and other natural history studies.

The first to accept this position was John Woodall, who was however accused of embezzling pay from apprentices that he used to hire.

[7] Another Surgeon Walter Chesley was sent home from service in Sumatra for drunkenness, while a Dr. Coote was removed from Bencoolen for debauchery in 1697.

Holwell was noted as a careful student of native customs and it has been suggested that if he had been in charge of Fort William, the entire incident would not have happened.

William Fullerton was the sole survivor in 1763 at Patna when the English fought Nawab Mir Qasim.

[18] It was formed as a wartime necessity for attracting suitably qualified men for service in a rapidly expanding army.

[24] Prior to the formation of the IMS in 1764, all medical officers in the employ of the East India Company were unranked.

The Surgeon-General (at other times designated Physician-General or Chief Surgeon) headed the service from around 1769, 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.

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 1895, the head of the service was named its director-general, holding the rank and appointment of a surgeon-general (surgeon major-general).