Albert John Chalmers (28 March 1870 - 5 April 1920) was a British colonial physician who was a research pioneer in tropical medicine.

Biography

Albert John Chalmers was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

on 28 March 1870. He received his qualifications in 1890 at

University College, Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University, it received Royal Charter by King Edward VII in 1903 attaining the decr ...

, holding the Holt Fellowship. He joined the West African Medical Service, where he served for four years at the

Gold Coast Colony The Gold Coast was a British Crown colony on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa from 1821 until its independence in 1957 as Ghana. The term Gold Coast is also often used to describe all of the four separate jurisdictions that were under the ad ...

, as the assistant colonial surgeon. He was the acting principal medical officer in the colony during the Siege of Kumassi in 1900 when he was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

and subsequently received the

Ashanti Medal The Ashanti Medal was sanctioned in October 1901 and was the first campaign medal authorised by Edward VII. This medal was created for those troops engaged in the Third Ashanti Expedition, also known as the War of the Golden Stool. This expedition ...

and clasp for his service. He left for

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

in 1901 where he worked for the next ten years as the registrar and lecturer on pathology at the

Colombo Medical College Ceylon Medical College was a public medical school in Ceylon. The college was established in 1870 as the Colombo Medical School. The college was based in Colombo. The college was merged with Ceylon University College in 1942 to form the University ...

. He was a captain in the

Ceylon Volunteer Medical Corps The Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps (SLAMC) (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා යුද හමුදා වෛද්‍ය බලකාය ''Shri Lanka Yuddha Hamuda Vayidya Balakaya'') is a specialist corps in the Sri Lanka ...

and president of the Ceylon branch of the

British Medical Association The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union and professional body for physician, doctors in the United Kingdom. It does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The BMA ...

in 1907. In 1911 he was awarded the

King George V Coronation Medal The King George V Coronation Medal was a commemorative medal instituted in 1911 to celebrate the coronation of King George V, that took place on 22 June 1911. Award It was the first British Royal commemorative medal to be awarded to people who w ...

. After serving with the

Pellagra Pellagra is a disease caused by a lack of the vitamin niacin (vitamin B3). Symptoms include inflamed skin, diarrhea, dementia, and sores in the mouth. Areas of the skin exposed to friction and radiation are typically affected first. Over tim ...

Field Commission in 1913 he was appointed as the Director of the Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratories in

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...

. By then he was a well known name in tropical medicine. While in Colombo he co-authored with

Aldo Castellani Aldo Luigi Mario Castellani, Marchese di Chisimajo, KCMG (8 September 1874 – 3 October 1971) was an Italian pathologist and bacteriologist. He is best remembered as discoverer of the etiology of sleeping sickness (with David Bruce, 1903) and ...

the
Manual of Tropical Medicine
', the first edition of which appeared in 1910 and was described by F. H. Garrison as “the best modern book on tropical medicine”. In February 1920, Chalmers turned in his resignation to the Sudan Government and left to travel the world with his wife Alice. While traveling in India, Chalmers fell ill and died on 5 April 1920 of acute infective jaundice. The Chalmers Memorial Medal is offered annually by the

Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, more commonly known by its acronym RSTMH, was founded in 1907 by Sir James Cantlie and George Carmichael Low. Sir Patrick Manson, the Society's first President (1907–1909), was recognised as ...

, in recognition of outstanding research contributing to knowledge of tropical medicine and tropical hygiene.

Selected publications

* ''Simple Medical Directions for Officials in Ceylon''

References

External links

Publications by AJ Chalmers at Google Scholar 20th-century British medical doctors 1870 births 1920 deaths People from British Ceylon Alumni of the University of Liverpool Medical doctors from Gold Coast (British colony) Colonial Surgeons Sri Lankan people of British descent {{UK-med-bio-stub People from Manchester