Sir Ethan James Kendrick

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 Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

MID (9 June 1873 – 5 May 1942) was a leader of the

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people are a distinct minority group, minority community of mixed-race British and Indian ancestry. During the colonial period, their ancestry was defined as British paternal and Indian maternal heritage; post-independence, "Angl ...

community of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

for 20 years, founding the

All India Anglo-Indian Association The All India Anglo-Indian Association (AIAIA) is an organisation representing the interests of Anglo-Indians. It was founded in 1926 in colonial India by Sir Henry Gidney. It has sixty-two branches throughout India. The All India Anglo-Indian A ...

in 1926. His grandfather, William Gidney, was killed at the

Siege of Lucknow The siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defence of the British The Residency, Lucknow, Residency within the city of Lucknow from rebel sepoys (Indian soldiers in the British East India Company's Army) during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After ...

in 1857 but his family decided to stay in India.

Life

He was born in Igatpuri in India on 9 June 1873 the son of John Gidney, an Irish engine driver for the GIPR, and his Indian wife Margaret David. He was raised a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

. He received his education first at Baldwins Boys School in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, then at St Peters High School in Mazagaon, then sent home to Britain for final education in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, to where his family had links. At 16, he joined the Calcutta Medical College at the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

, graduating as a first-class gold medal winner. He returned again to Britain to take a Diploma in Public Health (DPH) at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

plus a further Diploma in Ophthalmology (

D.O. Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO or D.O., or in Australia DO USA) is a medical degree conferred by the 38 osteopathic medical schools in the United States. DO and Doctor of Medicine (MD) degrees are equivalent: a DO graduate may become lice ...

) at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. He remained at Oxford as a Research Fellow, lecturing in

ophthalmology Ophthalmology (, ) is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of eye diseases and disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a ...

, and his surgical skill in this field gained a great reputation. At 36 years old, he was already an

FRCS Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional certification, professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Republic of Ireland, Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an wikt:intercollegiate, ...

and MRCP. In 1897 he went to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to sit the exams for the

Indian Medical Service The Indian Medical Service (IMS) was a military medical service in British India, which also had some civilian functions. It served during the two World Wars, and remained in existence until the independence of India in 1947. Many of its officer ...

, which he passed in 1898. He then joined the

British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...

, seeing action in China during the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

in 1901. He was

Mentioned in Dispatches 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 ...

by his senior officer for his actions, also being promoted from lieutenant to captain in the same year. He returned to Britain after the war but came back to India in 1906. He was promoted to major in 1909 and lieutenant colonel in 1917. In 1911 he appears to have taken an additional role as a civilian surgeon in the

Kohima Kohima (; Tenyidie: Kewhira ()) is the capital of the North East Indian state of Nagaland. With a resident population of almost 100,000, it is the second largest city in the state. Kohima constitutes both a district and a municipality. The m ...

Naga Hills The Naga Hills, reaching a height of around , lie prominently on the border of India and Myanmar. They are part of a complex mountain system, and the parts of the mountain ranges inside the States and territories of India, Indian states of Naga ...

area. He was medically invalided out of the Indian Medical Service in 1918. In 1911 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) 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 establis ...

. His proposers were Sir John Halliday Croom, Sir

David Prain Sir David Prain (11 July 1857 – 16 March 1944) was a Scotland, Scottish botanist who worked in India at the Calcutta Botanical Garden and went on to become Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Life Born to David Prain, a saddler, and ...

, Sir William Turner and Sir George Andreas Berry. This membership leads some records to wrongly state him as a Fellow of the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

which he was not (see List of Fellows of the Royal Society). After his retirement from the Indian Army in 1919, he set up his own private eye

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

. In 1926, Gidney founded the

. He was knighted in 1931. In 1941 was elected president of the All India

Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

Society. He died in India on 5 May 1942.

Recognition

The Gidney House of The Frank Anthony Public School, Delhi and Bangalore is named after him.

Family

He married Grace Gidney.

Additional achievements

# Civilian surgeon in Eastern Bengal and

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

. #

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the

branch of the

Empire League (1918) (founded by Charles Palmer in 1908) # Vice-president of the Central Council of the Empire League (1919) # Member of the Legislative Assembly of India (1921) # He formed an association called the "Anglo-Indian and Domiciled European Association". In 1937 the association split into two factions representing

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

, thereafter representing both Anglo-Indians and Anglo-Burmese. The Burma section became the "Anglo-Burman Union".

References

External links

Sir Gidney

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gidney, Henry 1873 births 1942 deaths British Indian Army officers British military personnel of the Boxer Rebellion Anglo-Indian people Indian surgeons Indian ophthalmologists Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England People from Nashik district University of Calcutta alumni Indian Methodists Medical doctors from British India