George Harris (physician)

Harris was born on 29 February 1856.[1] He was the son of Major-General Charles Shooter Harris of the Bengal Staff Corps.[1] He was educated at Bedford Modern School and St George’s Hospital qualifying as M.R.C.S. and L.R.C.P.[1][3] In 1902 he passed the M.D. degree at the University of Durham.[1]

Harris entered the Indian Medical Service in 1878 and in 1880 served in the latter stage of the Second Afghan War.[1][2]

In 1885, Harris became Civil Surgeon of Simla and in 1890 was made Civil Surgeon of Nagpur, a position he held until 1898.[1] In 1900 he was selected for the Chair of Materia Medica at the Medical College, Calcutta and Physician of the College Hospital.[1] In 1908 he was appointed Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals in the Punjab and United Provinces, taking up the same role in Bengal between 1910 and 1915.[1]

Harris wrote frequently in the Indian Medical Gazette and the British Medical Journal.[1] He was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1903 and Companion Order of the Star of India in 1911.[1] The same year he was elected President of The Asiatic Society for 1911–12. In 1914 he was made Honorary Surgeon to King George V and to the Viceroy of India.[1]

In 1883, Harris married Alice, daughter of General Archibald Edwards Campbell, formerly of the Bengal Staff Corps.[2] Harris died in London on 16 April 1931 and was survived by two sons and four daughters.[2]