Malay Poisons and Charm Cures (Oxford in Asia Paperbacks)
John Desmond Gimlette
Oxford University Press,South East Asia (1972), Edition: 3rd Revised edition, Paperback, 314 pages
ISBN 0196381509
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| Reading this currently... loaded with information, have to read real slowly and use my diary and laptop to take down notes. Here's what I have on the author off-hand, deep in my memory. |
USM Library Call Number:
WB50
JM2 G491
1971
Here are the details of the book:
JOHN D. GIMLETTE
MALAY POISONS AND CHARM CURES.
OXFORD IN ASIA PAPERBACKS
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1971
FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1915
REPRINTED IN 'OXFORD IN ASIA PAPERBACKS' 1971
THIRD IMPRESSION 1981
ISBN 019 638 150 9
PRINTED IN MALAYSIA BY AMPANG PRESS SDN BHD
AMPANG JAYA, SELANGOR
PUBLISHED BY OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 3, JALAN 13/3
PETALING JAYA, SELANGOR, MALAYSIA
Update 21-22 August 2012:
There are many versions of the book Malay Poisons and Charm Cures:
- First published 1915
- Third edition, 1929
- Reprinted 1971
- Third Revised edition, 1972
- Third Impression 1981
- There is a 2011 version of the book by Thailand available from Select Books: http://www.selectbooks.com.sg
Dr John Desmond Gimlette
I haven't got a date yet on his services rendered. There is Padang Gimlette in Kuala Krai named after him. There may be many more as he was a famous British doctor in Kelantan and British Malaya.
The British Association of Malaya and Singapore (BAM) has a photo of Dr J. D. Gimlette and a description of his departure. http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk
A group photograph of European officials, medical staff and orderlies gathered to say farewell to J. D. Gimlette. Others present were Mr and Mrs William Langham-Carter. The precise date of Gimlettes departure has not been determined, but this photograph must have been taken prior to August 1915, when Langham-Carter departed on furlough (long leave). Dr L.H. Taylor took over from Gimlette.
The British Association of Malaya and Singapore has a photo of Dr J. D. Gimlette and a description of his contact with the Kelantan royal family, with whom he had contact with the royal Malay traditional doctor (tabib sultan) and then wrote his book, Malay Poisons and Charm Cures. The sultan at the time was Sultan Muhammad IV.
The photos shows a group of the Kelantan royal family and British officials posed at an unidentified function. From left to right (first figure unidentified): Dr John Desmond GIMLETTE (1867-); Medical Officer, Malaya 1896-circa 1922; served in Kelantan 1909-circa 1916; Sultan MUHAMMAD IV; William LANGHAM-CARTER; The Raja Kelantan, Later Sultan ISMAIL; Tuanku Seri Indra, later Sultan IBRAHIM. http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk
Important names to note in Kelantan History:
- Dr John Desmond Gimlette (b.1867-d.1934), Medical Officer, Malaya 1896-c.1922; served in Kelantan 1909-c.1916
- Sultan Muhammad IV of Kelantan (r.1900-1920) (link to Sultan Kelantan)
- William Langham-Carter, British Adviser in Kelantan 1913-1916
- Tengku Ismail, later Raja Kelantan, later Sultan Ismail (r.1920-1943)
- Tuanku Seri Indra, later Sultan Ibrahim (r.1945-1960)
Muzium Kelantan
According to Muzium Kelantan, Carter had given his photo albums to the Sultan of Kelantan for safekeeping - this was before/after/close to the flood of 1913. The Sultan of Kelantan then gave the photo albums to the Muzium.
Dr J. D. Gimlette, Mr Carter and Dr L. H. Taylor were photographed together during a flood - probably their last moments experiencing the flood before they all left Kelantan for good.
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| "Doctor's carriage" before 1915. Photo from Muzium Kelantan. Could this be Dr J. D. Gimlette, wife and daughter? |
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| British doctors in a flood in Kelantan. Photo from Muzium Kelantan. |
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| Same flood as above in Kelantan. Photo from Muzium Kelantan. |
There was a newspaper article on Bah Merah (the big flood). It featured the British doctors during the flood (as shown above).
"Terkenang Bah Merah" was an article written by Mona Ahmad and Nasron Sira Rahm in Dimensi, Berita Harian, Malaysia on Sunday, 21 January 2007, page 4 (link to article). There were about 8 photos in the article, including one photo of the British officers and a doctor. They were Mr Ferrier, Dr Taylor, Mr Kemp, and Mr Worham.
2 comments:
Dr J.D. Gimlette worked in Malaya from February 1896 to end of May 1921, with breaks of 9 months in 1900 (sickness), of 4 months (private affairs) and from 1914 to 1919 (serving with the RAMC in Europe/East Africa during the Great War).
Amongst the Malays he worked with were Mr G.K Pillai, Mr Nadergol and Dr Devota; he stayed in correspondence with the latter after his return to England, as he did with the Sultan of Kelantan and with Tengku Abdullah Hassan.
His retirement from the Colonial Medical Service and life in Malaya was sudden and due to ill health. Whilst operating in Kelantan he acquired an infection, requiring prolonged treatment in Singapore under (I think) the British surgeon Mr Kenneth Black, amputation of a leg and a finger and return to England in 1922. He married later that year, had three daughters (of whom one died young) and died in 1934, having written "Malay poisons and Charm Cures" and most of a Malay-English Medical Dictionary.
TQ for writing about Dr J. D. Gimlette. Malays are Muslims. Malayans were the people of Malaya.
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