Andrew Paschal Fernandez-Indian Army Civil Surgeon
Hi, my name is Cheryl Morris, I'm new to this group. I've hit a brick wall, trying to find out any information on my Great Grandfather, Andrew Paschal FERNANDEZ. He changed his Surname when he got married to his wife Rita Mary's Maiden name VALLIS! As it wasn't done legally, it's hard to find any records, even information on his birth in Portugal or India, because he would of been born FERNANDEZ. He served in the Indian Army as a Civil Surgeon, the only piece of information I found of him is a Record, which is attached below. Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance. Cheers Cheryl Morris Nee Vallis.
Comments
-
Welcome to the group. Check out the resources on the right hand on this page. There are some google books with lists of civil servants and surgeons. I believe they are listed on the Scottish Indian Resources (under the heading of British Indian Resources) Maybe you can find some further clues in one of those.
0 -
Actually those books are for the east india company, so much earlier. Still check out all the resources. Hopefully something will come up.
0 -
The page from which the Ancestry record is derived, from the January 1912 Indian Army List.
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.284984/page/n15/mode/2up
You will see that he is listed under Viceroy and Governor-General of india, and that he was appointed for a fixed tenure of 5 years from 23 November 1910. Even though he is one among 19 doctors in total, you would think that an appointment to the Viceroy’s Household would be a prestigious appointment whch would result from a recommendation. Perhaps he was considered a vary good clinician, or perhaps he had good political connections.
He is listed as LMS (Madras). Looking at the other entries I am inclined to think that Madras refers to the Presidency which has “recommended” him, and that is where he was prior to joining the Viceroy’s Household. Possibly also he received his degree from the Madras Medical College.
You could check him out in othe Indian Army Lists. See the FIBIS Fibiwik page Indian Army List online
https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Indian_Army_List_online
I looked at a few, he was in the January 1916, but not in the January 1917 List.
You could look to see whether he appears in any of the editions of Thacker's Indian Directory, See the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Directories online.
https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Directories_online#Thacker.27s_Indian_Directory
However, one of the problems is that you don’t know what year he graduated, and at what point he might be expected to appear in an edition of Thackers as an established doctor.
Thackers also published a Medical Directory, some details on the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Doctor/Lists of medical officers/Other lists. https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Doctor#Lists_of_medical_officers
If you have access to London you may be able to look at these, and there are two editions available from the National Archives of India pay service "Digitise on Demand".
I have never seen these publications, but I image that at least the year of graduation would be given, which would give an indication of his likely age. Perhaps also you could then write to the Madras Medical College asking if it has any records. I think you are more likely to get a response if you are able to give a year of graduation.
http://www.mmc.ac.in/mmc/content_page.jsp?sq1=ih&sqf=415
Another avenue might be online newspapers. Madras Weekly Mail is available online to 1908, with issues to 1914 planned, see
https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Newspapers_and_journals_online#Madras_Weekly_Mail
Or perhaps you might be somewhere where you could access the Times of India, see
BMD, and other records may also be available , see the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Beginners Guide
https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Beginners'_Guide
Assuming the family were Roman Catholic, note it was optional for Roman Catholic records to be sent to the India Office In London, which is the main source of BMD records, so that there are fewer RC records and I would think very few or no Portuguese church records.
0
