James Ranald Martin

[2] He reached India at the port of Calcutta in June 1817 by ship, the Lord Hungerford, and reported for duty with the Bengal service on 2 December 1817.

[2] In 1818 he served the British Army's 17th (Leicestershire) and 59th (2nd Nottinghamshire) regiments of foot, which formed the garrison of Fort William in Calcutta.

His war experiences, especially the fact that diseases affected the natives and the Europeans differently, led him to believe that mapping of the medical features of the empire in much the same way as topography was critical for military and economic development.

His notes on the medical topography of Calcutta pioneered a genre of works that explored linkages between climate, public health and development.

The Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta, of which Martin was a prominent member, and its counterparts in other presidencies, encouraged the publication of such reports in their transactions.