Assistant Surgeon Luke Whitney
? – 5 Jan 1825 [Zante]
Service Record
12 July 1810 Hospital Mate for General Service.
25 Oct 1810 Assistant Surgeon 46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot.
27 May 1813 Assistant Surgeon 85th (Bucks Volunteers Light Infantry) Regiment.
1813–1814 Served in the Peninsular War.
1814 Served in the war against the United States of America.
13 July 1821 Arrived from Gibraltar.
1822 Assistant Surgeon 85th (Bucks Volunteers) (King's Light Infantry) Regiment.
Took charge of the regiment during the illness of the regimental surgeon Thomas Fiddes. Was himself sick for a while. Attributed the lack of pulmonary diseases in the 85th Foot to the men wearing flannel shirts to the exclusion of linen or calico.
1823 Ophthalmia prevailed among the women and nearly all the regimental children. The disease presented with a considerable discharge of mucus for the first three days which was associated with a rose coloured appearance of the conjunctiva. Whitney treated them with confinement, perfect cleanliness, and a bowel opening medicine of alum lotion 3 grains to an ounce of water. The disease was cured within six days. Ophthalmia was endemic in Malta during the summer and autumn months.
17 June 1824 Surgeon 90th (Perthshire Volunteers – Light Infantry) Regiment.
Bibliography
- Entry No: 3209. Johnston W. Roll of Commissioned Offices in the Medical Service of the British Army. Vol 1 (20 June 1727–23 June 1898 Aberdeen (1917).
- Hennen J., Quarterly Report on the diseases in the garrison of Malta for December 1821 – December 1822.