Brigadier Martin Melvin Cruickshank 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 ...

FRCSE FACS FICS (1888-1964) was a Scottish surgeon, specialising in ophthalmic surgery. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

he was Chief Medical Officer for

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

Province. He was created Commander of the Indian Empire in 1942.

Life

He was born in North

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

, the harbour area of

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 ...

on 22 March 1888, the son of George Hunter Cruickshank a marine engineer. He was a twin brother of Ernest Cruickshank. The family moved to

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

around 1895 and he attended

Robert Gordon's College Robert Gordon's College is a co-educational Independent school (UK) for day pupils in Aberdeen, Scotland. The school caters for pupils from Nursery through to S6. History Robert Gordon, an Aberdeen merchant, made his fortune in 18th century ...

with his twin. They then jointly studied Medicine at

Aberdeen University , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

. He graduated BSc in 1911 (a year after his brother). In the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

he joined the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps ...

, again with his twin, but they quickly were separated by events. He saw service in various fields of action: France, Belgium, Macedonia,

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. He rose to the rank of captain in this period. After the war he remained in the army and joined the Indian Medical Service. From 1921 to 1931 he acted as the Ophthalmic Specialist for the Northern and Western commands in India. After a period serving with the Madras Presidency, in 1934 he joined Madras Medical College as Professor of Surgery. In 1940 he was appointed Chief Medical Officer for the entire Delhi Province. Due to the

he was promoted to Brigadier/ Consultant Surgeon to the Southern Army in India. 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 ...

in 1938. His proposers were his twin Ernest (who was elected in 1929), Leybourne Davidson, Sir John Carroll, and James R Matthews. In January 1942 (in the New Year’s Honours List) he was created a Commander of the Indian Empire for his services in India.British Medical Journal: January 1942 In 1946 he returned to

and spent his final 12 working years as Deputy Superintendent of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. He retired aged 70. He died at 62 Queens Road in

on 10 October 1964. His twin brother Ernest died a few weeks later.

Family

He married Florence Watson in 1927.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruickshank, Martin Melvin 1888 births 1964 deaths People educated at Robert Gordon's College Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Aberdeen People associated with Aberdeen Scottish twins