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{{EngvarB|date=March 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Infobox Officeholder
| honorific-prefix = Surgeon General
| name = George Bidie
| honorific-suffix = [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]]
| image= George_Bidie.jpg
| office1 = Superintendent of the [[Government Museum, Chennai]]
| term_start1 = 1872
| term_end1 = 1885
| predecessor1 =[[Jesse Mitchell]]
| successor1 = [[Edgar Thurston]]
| birth_date = 1830
| birth_place =
| death_date = 1913
| death_place =
| party =
| alma_mater =
| profession = [[physician]]
| spouse = Isabella Wiseman
}}
[[File:The grave of Surgeon General George Bidie, Logie Kirkyard.jpg|thumb|300px|The grave of Surgeon General George Bidie, Logie Kirkyard]]
[[Surgeon-General (United Kingdom)|Surgeon General]] '''George Bidie''' <small>[[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]]</small> (3 April 1830 – 19 February 1913) was a British physician who worked in India in the Madras Medical Service. He was also Superintendent of the [[Government Museum, Chennai]] from 1872 to 1885.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=BIDIE, Surgeon-General George|magazine=Who's Who|year=1907|volume= 59|page=151|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yEcuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA151}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Bidie was born in Buckies, [[Banffshire]], United Kingdom on 3 April 1830. He studied at Edinburgh and the [[University of Aberdeen]] and received an MD degree from Marischal College. In 1853 he was created a Fellow of the [[Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh]] and joined the Indian Medical Service as an Assistant Surgeon on 20 February 1856.<ref name=obit />

== Career ==
Bidie joined the Madras Medical Service in 1856 and served with the [[Hyderabad]] contingent during the 1857 rebellion and received a medal. He was a Civil Surgeon at Guntur during 1859 and between 1867 and 1868, served on special duty in [[Mysore]] and [[Kodagu district|Coorg]] to investigate the stem borer (''[[Xylotrechus quadripes]]'') and its damage to coffee.<ref>{{cite book|title=Report of the ravages of the borer in coffee estates|author=Bidie, G|year=1869| publisher=Gantz Brothers| place= Madras|url=https://archive.org/details/reportonravageso00bidi }}</ref> He was a Professor of Botany at the Madras Medical College and a Superintendent of the Lunatic Asylum between 1866 and 1870. He helped introduce humane practises for the treatment of the insane as well as medical inspections in schools.<ref>{{cite book|author=Comrie, John D. |year=1932|title=History of scottish Medicine. Volume 2. |publisher=Wellcome Historical Medical Museum|place=London|url=https://archive.org/stream/b20457273M002#page/764/mode/1up|pages=764–765}}</ref> During this period he also took an interest in the deforestation-desiccation debate and wrote about the effects of deforestation in Coorg.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Effects of Forest Destruction in Coorg| author=Bidie, George| journal=Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London |volume= 39 |year=1869| pages=77–90|url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-1798545| doi=10.2307/1798545| jstor=1798545}}</ref> He rose through the ranks becoming Surgeon (20 February 1868), Surgeon-Major (1 July 1873), Brigade Surgeon (28 February 1883), Deputy Surgeon-General (11 October 1884) and Surgeon-General (9 October 1886). During his service he was decorated Order of the Crown of Italy (1882) and made a [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]] (1 January 1883) and appointed Honorary Surgeon to the Queen (16 February 1898), a position he held under [[Queen Victoria]], [[King Edward VII]] and [[King George V]].<ref name=obit /><ref>{{cite book|title=Dictionary of Indian Biography|author=Buckland, C.E.|year=1906|publisher=Swan Sonnenschein and Co.|place=London |url=https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofindi00buckuoft#page/40/mode/2up|page=41}}</ref>
[[File:Bird protection Bidie.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Cover of Bidie's 1901 pamphlet]]
Bidie also worked as Superintendent of the [[Government Museum, Chennai|Madras Museum]] from 1872 to 1884 as well as serving on the Cinchona Commission in 1873. He became a Fellow of Madras University in 1879. He also worked on sanitation, becoming Sanitary Commissioner of the [[Madras Presidency]] (1886) and was a delegate in the International Congress on Hygiene and Demography in 1891. While at the Madras Museum, he wrote on a wide range of subjects including [[natural history]], [[numismatics]] and [[archaeology]].<ref name=obit /> Bidie attempted to introduce cocoa cultivation in southern India, growing them experimental at the museum. Dewan Rama Iyer of Travancore consulted Bidie on the manufacture of paper. Bidie considered ''[[Casuarina equisetifolia]]'' as a plant suitable for "reclamation" of sandy soils. He was a friend of [[Richard Henry Beddome]] and had the museum acquire his herbarium collections for Rs. 1,500 in 1873-74. The collection included 2,435 specimens of plants.<ref>Aiyappan, A. (1951) Madras Government Museum Centenary Souvenir (1851-1951). pp. 14-19.</ref> In 1876 Bidie was appointed to the newly established executive committee of management of the [[Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai|Madras School of Arts]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Daniel |first=S. J. |editor1-last=Clibborn |editor1-first=John |editor2-last=Radice |editor2-first=C. A. |editor3-last=Enthoven |editor3-first=Reginald Edward |editor3-link=Reginald Edward Enthoven |editor4-last=Westcott |editor4-first=Foss |editor4-link=Foss Westcott |title=Report on Industrial Education Part II Proceedings of Conferences |chapter-url=http://dspace.gipe.ac.in/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10973/26872/GIPE-015605.pdf |location=Calcutta |publisher=Superintendent of Government Printing |date=1903 |pages=173 |chapter=A Brief History of the Madras School of Arts |access-date=6 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011075713/http://dspace.gipe.ac.in/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10973/26872/GIPE-015605.pdf |archive-date=11 October 2017 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> He was elected a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London in 1890.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/listoffellows1902zooluoft#page/18/mode/2up/|year=1902|title=A list of the Fellows and honorary, foreign and corresponding members and medallists of the Zoological Society of London.|author=Anon.|page=18|publisher=London}}</ref> Bidie was instrumental in setting up laws for the protection of wild birds in India.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/commercialproduc00wattuoft#page/132/mode/2up|page=132|title=The Commercial Products of India|author=Watt, Sir George|year=1908|publisher=John Murray|place=London}}</ref> He was a life member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds<ref>Anon. 1912 [https://archive.org/stream/annualreport2130roya#page/n71/mode/2up/ Twenty-first Annual Report of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds]. 1 January to 31 December 1911. p. 67</ref> and published a leaflet on ''The Protection of Wild Birds in India'' (1901). [[Francis Day]] named a species of fish after him as ''Caranx bidii'',<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Proceedings of the Scientific Meetings of the Zoological Society of London|year=1873|title=On new or imperfectly known fishes of India|author=Day, Francis|pages=236–240|url=https://archive.org/stream/proceedingsofgen73zool#page/236/mode/2up/}}</ref> but this is now considered a junior synonym of ''[[Selaroides leptolepis]]''.

He died of old age on 19 February 1913. He is buried in the cemetery of [[Logie Kirk]]. The grave lies towards the south-east.

==Family==

Bidie married Isabella (1832-1906), daughter of Alexander Wiseman of Banchory, Aberdeenshire on 11 July 1854. They had five daughters<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Sheffield Independent|date=24 February 1893|page=7|title=Marriage of Mis Margert Gillatt, formerly of Sheffield|via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000181/18930224/041/0007}}</ref> and four sons among whom one who was also named George Bidie,<ref>{{cite news|title=[Wedding notice]|newspaper=Sheffield Daily Telegraph|page=7|date=21 December 1892|via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000250/18921221/156/0007}}</ref> became a Lieutenant-Colonel and followed in his father's footsteps to serve in the Indian Medical Service.<ref name=obit>{{cite journal|author=Anonymous|title=Obituary Surgeon-General George Bidie, CIE|journal=British Medical Journal|volume=1|issue=2722| year=1913| doi=10.1136/bmj.1.2722.473-a |pmc=2298621|page=473}}</ref> His estate was valued at £2943 at the time of his death.<ref>{{cite news |title=[Untitled] |work=Dundee Courier |date=9 May 1913|accessdate=22 November 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000164/19130509/054/0004|page=4| via = [[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=George Bidie}}
* {{Find a Grave|70640063}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bidie, G.}}
[[Category:1830 births]]
[[Category:1913 deaths]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:Indian Medical Service officers]]
[[Category:British Indian Army generals]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Scottish military personnel]]

George Bidie - Revision history

Bot at 21:54, 29 July 2022