Coatee, worn by Surgeon Major Alexander Grant, Bengal Medical Establishment, 1856 (c)

Scarlet wool cloth with black silk velvet facings and gilt buttons.

Surgeon Major Alexander Grant (1817-1900) studied medicine at Glasgow and Edinburgh and was admitted to the Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) in 1838. He joined the Bengal Medical Service in 1841 and served with the 55th Foot in the 1st China War (1839-1842) and the 1st Sikh War (1845-1846). In 1849 he became surgeon to Lord Dalhousie, the Governor General of India.

Grant was involved in the reorganisation of the Indian Medical Services and became Apothecary General and Opium Examiner to the Government of India in 1857. He wrote a 'Guide to Domestic Medicine Chest in India' (1852) and 'Remarks of Hill Diarrhoea and Dysentry' (1853). He edited the 'Annal of Military and Naval Surgery, and Tropical Medicine and Hygiene' from 1853 until his retirement in 1863. Grant died in London on 3 January 1900.