William Montgomerie
William Montgomerie (1797–1856) was a Scottish military doctor with the
Early life and family
Montgomerie was born in Scotland in 1797.
Career
In 1818, Montgomerie became a medical officer with the
While he was stationed at Singapore, Montgomerie was usually the doctor attending Singapore's leaders. These included Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore, and William Farquhar, who was stabbed by a would-be assassin in 1823.[9] Farquhar had expressed concern over Montgomerie's youth when he arrived in Singapore in 1819. Montgomerie was very young at this point, even younger than the Sub-assistant Surgeon from whom he took over and was now in charge.[10] If anything happened to Farquhar, Montgomerie would have been left in charge of Singapore as the next most senior official. Farquhar wrote to Calcutta asking them to put alternative arrangements in place.[11]
In Singapore, Montgomerie was appointed a
Agriculture
Montgomerie keenly pursued agriculture in Singapore. He owned the 32-acre (13 ha) Duxton Hill estate for most of his time there, but never succeeded in making it profitable. It was sold after his death and briefly renamed "Woodsville". The area is now built-up and the name has reverted to Duxton Hill, a name also preserved in Duxton Road. The primary crop grown was sugar, but later he planted nutmeg trees. The estate was bounded by a river where Montgomerie had a large watermill. A short distance from the mill, the Serangoon Road crosses the river on a crossing known as Montgomerie's Bridge.[14]
Spice cultivation
On his return to Singapore in 1835, Montgomerie found that the government spice plantations had been neglected. The
Gutta-percha
Gutta-percha is a natural rubber obtained from the sap of certain trees growing in the Far East. It hardens on exposure to air, but has the useful property of being thermoplastic. It can be moulded to a new shape after boiling in water and will reharden when cool. It is credited with being the first plastic available to manufacturing industry.[18]
Montgomerie is sometimes credited with discovering the substance. He is responsible for it coming into widespread use, but it had in fact been known for some time by a few natives who used it to make handles for parangs (Malayan machetes) and other items. However, it was not widely known, even amongst native Malays. Montgomerie said that most people he showed it to could not recognise it. It had even made its way to Europe,[note 2] but again, was not widely known.[19] Montgomerie's discovery began in 1822 when he was shown a different natural rubber, gutta girek, and was told of the existence of a harder material, gutta percha. However, he could not obtain a sample at the time and did not get another opportunity until 1842 after he returned to Singapore. In that year a Malay showed him a parang with a gutta-percha handle. Montgomerie purchased the item and requested that more of the substance be provided. After experimentation, he concluded that its thermoplastic properties would be ideal for making many surgical instruments. The natural rubbers used for this purpose at the time were easily damaged by solvents and could not withstand the tropical climate.[20]
Montgomerie sent samples to the Calcutta Medical Board with a recommendation for its medical use. The board agreed with him and requested that he obtain as much as possible.
Besides its use for making medical instruments, Montgomerie proposed several other uses, including as a dental filling (for which it is still used
Mental health medicine
It was the custom in Singapore to house 'lunatics' in the jail. Natives and Chinese were confined in this way, while Europeans enjoyed better treatment. It was part of Montgomerie's duties to visit the jail daily to attend to their needs. There had been public disquiet about the lack of proper facilities, but nothing was done until 1840 when one mentally ill inmate murdered another. Montgomerie was tasked with investigating and making recommendations. He recommended a purpose-built lunatic asylum and submitted plans and costings. He rejected an alternative idea of sending patients to India. Montgomerie's plan was accepted and the asylum was built.[28]
Singapore Stone
Montgomerie played a minor role in recovering pieces of the
The destruction of the stone horrified many of the colony's officials. One described it as vandalism. The stone was first discovered by Bengali sailors tasked with clearing the vegetation by the port's first
Honours
Recreation
Montgomerie was the head of the Singapore Yacht Club when it formed in 1826. Meetings were held in his house.[35] The game of fives was introduced to Singapore by Montgomerie. He initially played it in the medical store.[36] He was honoured with a dinner in February 1836 for introducing the game.[37] In 1827, a grand jury in Singapore decided gambling farms should be abolished. Montgomerie is said to have remarked, "I did not think there were thirteen such idiots in the entire island."[38]
Notes
- ^ The term "surgeon" was used by the military Indian Medical Service to designate a medical officer's rank. It did not indicate whether or not the officer practiced surgery. Surgeon ranks, in order of descending seniority were; Surgeon-Major, Surgeon, Assistant Surgeon, Sub-assistant Surgeon (Teo, p. 25).
- ^ As early as 1656, John Tradescant had brought a material to England which he called mazer wood and which is thought to be gutta-percha because of the similarity in its properties (Straits Times, 1884; Baker, p. 89).
José d'Almeida, a Portuguese doctor and trader in Singapore, also brought samples to the Society of Arts around the same time as Montgomerie after seeing native whips made from the material (Oxley, p. 22). - ^ Oxley also noted the fast depopulation of gutta-percha trees in Singapore (Oxley, p. 24)
- ^ Oxley, and several other sources, say that Montgomerie got the medal for the discovery of gutta-percha (Oxley, p. 22). This may be an error since the RSA citation flatly contradicts this.
The alternative explanation that there were two different medals awarded is not found in any source of this article.
If it is an error, Montgomerie himself was under the same misapprehension, since he also says he got the medal for gutta-percha (Montgomerie, p. 378). It is entirely possible that Montgomerie misunderstood the award. He was in Singapore at the time, and the award was collected on his behalf by his brother-in-law, H. Gouger, in London (RSA Transactions, p. 60). In the age before the establishment of the worldwide telegraph, communications were slow and unreliable.
References
- ^ Savage & Yeoh, p. 106
- ^ Teo, p. 25
- ^ Buckley, p. 402
- ^ Buckley, p. 402
- ^ Buckley, p. 60
- ^
- RSA Transactions, p. 40
- Montgomerie, p. 377
- ^ "William Montgomerie", HistorySG
- ^
- Teo, p. 25
- Buckley, p. 402
- ^
- "William Montgomerie", HistorySG
- Buckley, pp. 97–99
- ^ Teo, p. 25
- ^ Buckley, p. 56
- ^ Buckley, p. 196
- ^
- "William Montgomerie", HistorySG
- Buckley, p. 93
- ^
- Buckley, p. 402
- Savage & Yeoh, pp. 106, 258, 329
- ^ RSA Transactions, p. 40
- ^ RSA Transactions, pp. 45–47
- ^ RSA Transactions, pp. 38, 48
- ^
- "Gutta Percha", PHS
- Baker, p. 89
- ^ Straits Times, 1884
- ^
- Montgomerie, pp. 377–378
- Buckley, p. 404
- ^ Montgomerie, p. 378
- ^
- Teo, p. 25
- Trocki, p. 86
- ^ Montgomerie, pp. 378–379
- ^
- Picker, p. 35
- Baker, p. 89
- Prakash et al., p.32
- ^ Montgomerie, p. 379
- ^ "Gutta Percha", PHS
- ^
- "William Montgomerie", PHS
- Arrighi, p. 7
- Picker, p. 35
- Baker, pp. 90–91
- ^ Lee, pp. 386–387
- ^ Miksic, p. 19
- ^ Buckley, pp. 91–94
- ^ Brooke, p. 576
- ^ Buckley, pp. 93–94
- ^ Montgomerie, p. 378
- ^ RSA Transactions, p. 38
- ^ "William Montgomerie", HistorySG
- ^ "William Montgomerie", HistorySG
- ^ Buckley, p. 304
- ^ Buckley, p. 145
Bibliography
- Arrighi, R., "From impregnated paper to polymeric insulating materials in power cables", IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation, vol. EI-21, iss. 1, pp. 7–18, February 1986.
- Baker, Ian, "Gutta percha" pp. 89–91 in Fifty Materials That Make the World, Springer, 2018 ISBN 9783319787664.
- Brooke, Gilbert E., "Archeological and heraldic notes", p. 567–577 in Makepeace, Walter; Brooke, Gilbert E.; Braddell, Roland St. J. (eds.), One Hundred Years of Singapore, vol. 1, London: John Murray, 1921 OCLC 867885390.
- Buckley, Charles Burton, An Anecdotal History of Old Times in Singapore, vol. 1, Singapore: Fraser & Neave, 1902 OCLC 220728943.
- Lee, Y. K., "The Mental Diseases Hospital, Singapore (the first 100 years) – a short history (part I)", Singapore Medical Journal, vol. 33, iss. 4, pp. 386–392, August 1992.
- ISBN 997169574X.
- Montgomerie, William, "History of the introduction of gutta percha into England", Mechanics' Magazine, October 1846).
- Oxley, Thomas, "Gutta Percha", The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, vol. 1, pp. 22–29, 1847.
- Picker, John M., "Atlantic cable", Victorian Review, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 34–38, Spring 2008.
- Prakash, R.; Gopikrishna, V.; Kandaswamy, D., "Gutta-percha – an untold story", Endodontology, vol. 17, iss. 2, pp. 32–36, December 2005.
- Savage, Victor R.; Yeoh, Brenda, Singapore Street Names: A Study of Toponymics, Marshall Cavendish International Asia, 2013 ISBN 9814484741.
- Teo, Cuthbert, "A glimpse into the past – medicine in Singapore (part 1)", SMA News, vol. 46, no. 5, pp. 24–27, Singapore Medical Association, May 2014.
- Trocki, Carl A., Prince of Pirates: The Temenggongs and the Development of Johor and Singapore, 1784–1885, National University of Singapore Press, 2007 ISBN 9971693763.
- "Cultivation of nutmegs at Singapore", Transactions of the Royal Society of Arts, vol. 54 (1843–1844), pp. 38–50.
- "Gutta Percha", Plastics Historical Society, retrieved and archived 24 November 2018.
- "The discovery of gutta percha in Singapore", The Straits Times, p. 3, 10 March 1884.
- "William Montgomerie", Plastics Historical Society, retrieved and archived 24 November 2018.
- "William Montgomerie arrives in Singapore", HistorySG, Singapore Government, retrieved and archived 25 November 2018.