Purveyor George Dickson MD (St And 1796) FRCP (Ed 1796)
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Service Record
12 Dec 1793 Surgeon 12th Regiment of Dragoons by purchase of commission.
4 Apr 1800 Purveyor.
Aug 1800 Attached to the army serving in the Mediterranean under Sir Ralph Abercrombie.
Malta Nov 1801 Arrived from Egypt.
Malta 1802 Purveyor at the Military Hospital Valletta.
Purveyors supplied the hospital with its equipment. They also procured the diets for the patients as prescribed by the physician, kept accounts of hospital provisions and expenditure, and made requisitions for medical stores on the Surgeon General.
Malta 1803 Purveyor.
Malta 1804 Purveyor.
Malta 1805 Purveyor.
Malta 13 Sep 1806 Embarked to join the army in Sicily.
11 Dec 1811 Letter from the Army Medical Board to Deputy Inspector Green, notifying him of the appointment of Purveyor to the Forces Dickson G to the Sicilian Command.1
Jan 1812 Succeeded Purveyor Joseph Gunson to the Purveyor's Department in the Peninsula. He was chosen to put a stop to the fraud perpetuated by his predecessor. However, by the time he left in October 1813, he had not only carried on embezzling, but had adjusted the regulations so as to make it easier for himself and his subordinates. Vouchers were submitted for items of expenditure in far excess of what had been issued to the patients with the purveyor pocketing the difference.2
15 Nov 1822 Dismissed from HM Services for fraudulent practices and gross misconduct in the Peninsula.
Bibliography
- Entry No: 1217. Johnston W. Roll of Commissioned Offices in the Medical Service of the British Army. Vol. 1. London: Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 1968.
- 1TNA:WO 7/109, AMB to Green Letter Book Foreign dated 7 Jan 1811.
- 2Crowe K., (1976). Thomas Burn Catherwood and the Medical Department of Wellington's Army 1809–1814. Medical History; Vol 20 No 1 (Published 1 January 1976).