HC Deb 19 May 1881 vol 261 cc800-2
MR. GRANTHAM

asked the Secretary of State for India, as he has now received the promised reports from India on the case of Captain Chatterton, If he can tell the House whether by the report of the Medical Board, dated September 5th, 1868, signed by Surgeon Major Peskett, Surgeons Lowdell and Condon, and Assistant Surgeon Walsh at Myne Tal, Captain Chatterton was not recommended to take twelve months leave of absence for the purpose of returning to England to undergo an operation, viz., the division of the left tendon achilles, on the ground that it was not safe to perform the operation in India; whether Surgeon Major Powell, acting as garrison surgeon in Fort William, Calcutta, did not afterwards in April 1869 confirm the above recommendation on the same ground; and, whether the only report on which the Despatch of June 5th, 1869, ordering the compulsory retirement of Captain Chatterton was founded, and which practically alleged that he was shamming, was not that made in November or December 1868 by Assistant Surgeon Macdermott, who was shortly afterwards removed from the medical charge of that and other cases previously under his care; and how it was that Captain Chatterton was dismissed the Army in 1869 on the report of an assistant surgeon, when Captain Chatterton was acting on the reports of very eminent surgeons made both before and after the report of the assistant surgeon?

THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON ,

in reply, said, it was a fact that the Medical Board, by a Report dated September 5, 1868, did recommend that Captain Chatterton should be sent to England to undergo an operation. Their Report required to be confirmed by superior authorities, and they decided that there was no occasion to send Captain Chatterton home, as the operation, being a very simple one, could be performed in India. The whole matter was carefully considered by a Court of Inquiry consisting of three combatant officers of superior rank. They took the evidence of several medical officers, and their Report was considered by the Commander-in-Chief in India and by the Government of India; and on this Report Captain Chatterton was placed on half-pay. Captain Chatterton had not been dismissed from the Army. He had 15 years of service, six and a-half of which were spent on medical leave. On these grounds alone there would have been ample justification for placing Captain Chatterton on half-pay.