Catalogue description Colonel H E Shortt CIE DSc FRS

188 pp ts. memoir of service with the Indian Medical Service 1910-45. This includes operations as medical officer of the 33rd Light Cavaltry (6th Indian Division) in Mesopotamia 1914-15, and work with the Central Research Laboratory in Persia and Iraq 1915-18. During the inter-war period he served in India with the Kala-Azar Plague Commission and other medical research bodies. During 1941-45 work with refugees from Burma in Assam is described. Post-war malarial and other research is also mentioned. The memoir is anecdotal, concentrating on hunting and medical experiences rather than military detail.

Shortt, Henry Edward, 1887-1987

Unrestricted

• Mesopotamia
• Persia
• Iraq
• Assam, India
• Second World War, 1939-1945
• Medical research
• First World War, 1914-1918
• Army personnel

Henry Edward Shortt was born in India in 1887, but educated in Scotland, where he qualified as a doctor and in July 1910 was commissioned in the Indian Medical Service. Becoming a Captain in 1913, he served during the First World War and was twice mentioned in dispatches. He was promoted to Major in 1922 and Lieutenant-Colonel in 1930, and in 1938 returned to Britain with the intention of retiring, when war again broke out and he was recalled to India. Promoted to Colonel in 1941 and holding the local rank of Brigadier, he returned to Britain and retired to civil life after the War, though continuing to work in the medical field.

The memoirs comprise a 188 pp copy of a ts account written about 1980-81. The style is anecdotal and dates are largely omitted, emphasis being laid on his hunting experiences and medical research work rather than military matters, even during the two World Wars. The period of British rule in India is regarded affectionately, and the entire work may be classed as reminiscences rather than a serious and detailed history. Note: page 30 is missing from the account.