British Doctors in Kelantan

British Malaya

Muzium Kelantan has kindly provided 4 b/w photos of the British doctors in Kelantan, British Malaya. Here are some highlights of those photos:

1. The British doctors wore white uniforms and had hard hats much like Bismark's helmet (topi keras). 
2. One photo showed a carriage during dry weather and another had a cart during the flood season.
3. The photos indicate that the carriage and cart were used by the British doctors in Kelantan from 1914/15 to 1927.
4. Flood was an important feature in Malaya's history. 
5. Three photos featured the doctors while on duty during the flood in Kota Bharu in 1927. 
6. Sampan and cart were used in Kota Bharu during the flood in 1927.

Questions

1. Did the early Malay doctors also use the same vehicles (carriage, cart and sampan) for their work as the British doctors?
2. Who were the Malay doctors in British Malaya between 1914 and 1927?
3. Did the early Malay doctors work side by side with the British doctors?
4. If the early Malay doctors had worked side by side with their British counterparts from 1914 to 1927, do we have that evidence?
5. Was there any Malay or were Malay doctors featured in any of the photos provided by Muzium Kelantan?
6. Where can we obtain evidence that the early Malay doctors had indeed worked alongside their British counterparts?
7. If the early Malay doctors had worked together with the British doctors, were they treated as equal?
8. Did the early Malay doctors have the same qualifications as the British doctors who served in British Malaya?
9. Were the early Malay doctors paid the same as their British counterparts?
10. If no, why were the early Malay doctors not as well paid as their British counterparts?
11. Where were the early Malay doctors trained? 
12. Where were the British doctors who served British Malaya trained?

Photo #1

"The Doctor's carriage in Kelantan circa 1914-1915."

Photo from Muzium Kelantan.

Photo #2

British officers during the 1927 flood in Kelantan.
Photo from Muzium Kelantan.

"Terkenang Bah Merah" by Mona Ahmad & Nasron Sira Rahm. Dimensi, Berita Harian, Malaysia. Sunday, 21 January 2007. page 4. The article showed the photo above during the great flood which hit Kota Bharu in 1927 with this caption: "British officers ... Mr Ferrier, Dr Tailor, Mr Kemp & Mr Worham ...". Courtesy of Muzium Kelantan.

(Another British doctor in Kuala Krai, Kelantan at the time was Dr J. D. Gimlette.)

British officers and doctors in Kelantan 1900-1957. In this list, William Langham-Carter already left; William Kerr had also left.

1. Mr Ferrier
2. Dr Tailor/Taylor
3. Mr Kemp
4. Mr Worham

Newspapers and articles which mentioned the British men above:

BATAVIA GOLF CLUB.

The Straits Times, 25 August 1902, Page 5

- Mr Ferrier

http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19020825-1.2.59

A.B.M. FOURSOMES.

The Straits Times, 16 June 1933, Page 13

- British Malaya's golf tournament

- J. Straton Ferrier

http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19330616-1.2.92

The Territory Remembers - 75 Years.

- 58. Len Harris to John Ferrier, CMS, 14 May 1943. Copy in Harris’s papers

http://www.territoryremembers.nt.gov.au/sites/default/files/uploads/documents/collection%20of%20stories/the_territory_at_war_ebook_-_full.pdf

Photo #3

British doctors with a horse-driven cart in flood water in Kota Bharu, undated (1927?).

Photo from Muzium Kelantan.

Photo #4

British doctors wading in less than knee-deep flood water in Kota Bharu, undated (1927?).
Photo from Muzium Kelantan.

There is a wooden carriage (very different from photo #1) at the outdoor display of the War Memorial in Kota Bharu. Other modes of transportation in early British Kelantan were also on display.