Charles Morehead (physician)


Charles Morehead CIE FRSE was a 19th-century Scottish physician who came to eminence in the Indian Medical Service in relation to health education.

Life

He was born in Edinburgh on 8 February 1807 the son of Margaret and Rev Robert Morehead. He was younger brother to William Ambrose Morehead. The family lived at 1 Hill Street in Edinburgh's New Town.
He was educated at the High School in Edinburgh then studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh graduating with an MD in 1828, and undertaking further studies in Paris. His teachers in Edinburgh included George Jardine and William Pulteney Alison and in Paris including Pierre Louis Laennec and Rene Laennec.
In 1829 he went to India to serve in the Bombay Medical Service linked to the East India Company working under Sir Robert Grant. In 1835 they jointly founded the Grant Medical College, Morehead being its Governor from 1845. From 1859 to 1862 he was Deputy Inspector General of Hospitals for all India. He retired in 1862 due to ill-health and then returned to his native city of Edinburgh.
In 1866 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer was John Hutton Balfour.
In later life he lived at 11 North Manor Place in Edinburgh's West End. In 1881, shortly before his death, Queen Victoria created him a Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire.
He died at Wilton Castle on 24 August 1882. He was returned to Edinburgh for burial in Dean Cemetery.

Publications

He was the grandson of William Morehead.
In 1844 he married Harriet Anne Barnes.