John Shortt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Shortt (26 February 1822 – 24 April 1889) was an Anglo-Indian physician who served in the Madras Presidency in southern India. He conducted research on snake venoms and wrote on a variety of other subjects including anthropology, agriculture, and animal husbandry. A species of shieldtail snake endemic to the Shevaroy Hills is named after him, Uropeltis shorttii.
Shortt was the son of Rose (1789-1841) and John Shortt (died November 9, 1837[1]). Shortt (senior) had joined the Madras Army as an ensign in 1760, became a Major in 1778 and retired 'invalided' as conductor of ordinance at Vellore.[2] Shortt (junior) was christened on 20 May 1822 at Arcot. He may have been among the first students trained in Madras as apothecaries[3] before he joined the East India Company Service in Madras as an Assistant Apothecary on 20 January 1846. He was then sent for training in medicine to Aberdeen, and received a MD from King's College in 1854 apart from qualifying MRCS and LSA. He was supported by a sum of £400 from an officer who had been saved from cholera by Shortt. An introduction letter from Hugh Cleghorn to J.H. Balfour noted that Shortt was an "Anglo-Indian" and that allowance be made for his "colour and manners."[4] He also received a degree in veterinary medicine, becoming a member of the college of veterinary surgeons, Edinburgh in 1854. Returning to India, he was appointed assistant surgeon at Madras in September 1854. He served as a superintendent of vaccination for a while before being promoted Surgeon in 1866, Surgeon Major in 1873, and finally retired on 12 February 1878. He moved to Yercaud where he remained until his death.[5][6] He was elected Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1860. His proposers included John J. Bennet, John Edward Gray, George Robert Gray, William Baird, Thomas Moore and Thomas Spencer Cobbold.[4][7]
Shortt married Isabella née Cursett (died 25 May 1854 aged 22) in Madras in 1848. A daughter Isabella married John Archibald Duncan McDougall in Madras in 1872.[8] His second wife Ellen Julia Annie née Blyth (1843 - 8 July 1865) was buried at St Mary's Cemetery, Madras.[9] He married Annie Julia Henrietta née Rogers (1851-1909) on 9 September 1875 at Bangalore.
