Colonel Joseph Kinnear Close MD MCh MAO (1864 – 1940)

Joseph aged 25 years

Born 22nd December 1864 in Carrickfergus Ireland, the second son of William and Eliza Close, his father was a minister with the Loughmourne Reformed Presbyterian Church. Christened William Joseph, he subsequently changed his name to Joseph Kinnear Close, Kinnear being his mother’s maiden name.

Joseph was educated at Rockview Intermediate School Carrickfergus before studying medicine at Queens College Belfast 1881-86. He graduated from the Royal University of Ireland with the degrees Doctor of Medicine (MD), Master of Surgery (M. Ch.), and Master of Obstetrics (M.A.O), before applying to join the Indian Medical Service (IMS) in October 1887.

After successfully passing the IMS entrance exam board in London in late 1887, Joseph joined the new intake of IMS candidates undertaking their Army Medical Training Course at the Royal Victoria Hospital Netley. The four-month long course covered Hygiene, Clinical and Military Medicine, Clinical and Military Surgery and Pathology of Diseases and Injurious Incident to Military Service. Joseph achieved a combined score of 4,995 points, which placed him 15th out of 23 candidates on his course.

In the spring of 1888 Joseph travelled to India, taking up his first post as Surgeon Captain to the Station Hospital in Bareilly North East India. Within three months, Joseph was re-assigned to join the 23rd Pioneers, and then in December 1888 to join the men of the 2nd Battalion 1st Gurkhas who had been sent to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force on active duty in Sikkim.

The British force was sent to expel Tibetan forces from Sikkim, an independent Himalayan state in present-day North East India. The roots of the conflict lay in British-Tibetan competition for sovereignty over Sikkim. Brigadier-General Thomas Graham RA was ordered to march on Sikkim, his forces mustered the 2nd Battalion Derbyshire Regiment, HQ wing 13th Bengal Infantry, four guns from the 9-1st Northern Division Royal Artillery and the 32nd Pioneers, reinforced by the 500 men of the 2nd Battalion 1st Gurkhas. His orders were to expel the Tibetans from Lingtu and re-establish Indian control of the road up to the Jelep La pass, while securing Gantok and Tumlong from possible reprisals.

The successful British military campaign lasted from 15th March – 27th September 1888. Joseph remained with the garrisoned troops left to keep the peace, in charge of the No7 Native Field Hospital until his next posting.

Towards the end of 1889, Joseph was re-assigned as medical officer with the Anglo-Siamese Boundary Commission. Formed by the British Government to solve the difficulties with Siam concerning the trans-Salween dependencies of Mawkmai, Mongpan, and Karenni. The Commission started out from Rangoon 18th November 1889, arriving at Ford Stedman in the Shan States 1st December. The main body of the Commission including Joseph left Fort Stedman on 16th December 1889 to begin its work.

Despite Siam declining to join it at the last moment, the commission went without the agreement from the Siamese government and brought about the partition of the disputed tracts and their incorporation into British Burma. British troops forced the Siamese garrisons to withdraw from the territories of the trans-Salween that were deemed not to belong to Siam.

An extract from the book “The Pacification of Burma” written by SIR CHARLES CROSTHWAITE, K.C.S.I reads, “Such was the condition of affairs in 1889, and it became necessary to take action to prevent further mischief. It was decided by the Government of India, in communication with the Foreign Office, to appoint a Commission to survey the frontier and settle disputed points with representatives of the Siamese. Accordingly, as soon as the season permitted, a Commission was formed under Mr. Ney Elias, C.I.E., as chief. The members of the Commission were Mr. W. J. Archer, Her Britannic Majesty's Vice-consul at Chiengmai, Mr. J. G. (now Sir J. George) Scott, Major E. G. Barrow (now Sir Edmund Barrow), Captain F. J. Pink (now Colonel Francis J. Pink, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment). A survey party from the Government of India, under Captain H. M. Jackson, R.E., was attached to the Commission. Surgeon J. K. Close was appointed to the medical charge, with Dr. Darwin as his assistant. The escort, commanded by Major Clarke, O.L.I., was composed of two companies of the Oxford Light Infantry, two guns of a Mountain Battery, and a few rifles of the Shan (military police) Levy. Early in December the Commission met at Fort Stedman, and marching down through Loikaw and Sawlon, the Karenni capital, encamped near Ywathit, at the ferry on the Salween called Ta Sangle.”

Towards the beginning of April 1890 the Commission had largely finished their work and returned to Ford Stedman 30th April. Having completed his duties with the Commission, Joseph was granted 182 days leave on medical grounds and spent much of 1890 furloughed out of India. During this time, Joseph returned to Ireland where he married Sara Burney Johnson at Newtownbreda in the parish of Knockbreda on 30th September 1890. The couple had one daughter, Edith Mary Isabel Close who was born in Ballylesson Down Ireland 25th July 1891.

Joseph returned to India in December 1890 taking up a position as medical officer attached to the 17th and then 3rd Bengal Infantry in Calcutta. Joseph’s wife and daughter followed sometime later, setting sail for India aboard the SS Branksome Hall leaving Liverpool 24th September 1892 and travelling to Karachi via Marseilles.

On 31st March 1891, British India declared war on Manipur, an ancient independent kingdom in north-east India. For the second time in his short military career, Joseph found himself going off to war this time with his regiment as part of British and Indian expeditionary force assembled in Kohima and Silchar. On the same day, British expeditionary forces seized the village of Thoubal after ousting an 800-man Manipuri garrison. On 1st April, two thousand Manipuri soldiers accompanied by two guns laid siege to the village, the British troops repelled numerous attacks during the course of the next nine days. On 9th April, British forces retreated from Thoubal in order to join reinforcements of 100 rifles of the 12th (Burma) Madras Infantry. Manipur forces suffered heavy casualties during the engagement while the British lost one soldier dead and four wounded.

By August 1891 the British had subdued and captured five Manipuri commanders who were hanged for waging war against the British Empire, other Manipurian noblemen received sentences of property forfeiture and a lifetime in exile. Manipur underwent a disarmament campaign, some 4,000 firearms were confiscated from the local population.

Following his early active years in India, Captain Close spent the next five years, working as medical officer to various military units including 1st and 2nd Gurkha Rifles, 4th 21s 26th and 28th Punjab, and the 23rd Pioneers.

As was customary for Surgeons within the IMS, after an initial period serving within the military, in 1897 Joseph’s services were placed at the disposal of the Government of India Home Department. So began the period of Joseph’s career working within the civilian hospital and medical services of India. Between 1897-1918 Joseph held numerous civil surgeon and superintendent positions in a variety of important districts including Allahabad, Bijnor, Moradabad, Mizapur, Azamgarh, Shahjahanpur, and Bareilly. He also had medical charge and was superintendent for the jails and lunatic asylums at Allahabad, Lucknow, Bareilly, Benares, Naini Tal, and Babraich. During this period of his career he was promoted twice, to Major in 1899 and to Lieutenant Colonel in 1907.

Between November 1905 and September 1906 Joseph now a Major was furloughed on study leave, returning to London where he attended the London School of Tropical Medicine – 20th Session. The class photograph below shows Major J K Close IMS now 41 years old 2nd row fourth from the right. Not long after this photograph was taken, Joseph’s mother Eliza sadly passed away 26th May 1906 in Ireland.

During 1911, Joseph, Sara and their daughter Edith now 19 years old returned to London. The 1911 Census records them staying at an address in London, 47 Fitz George Avenue Kingston, the home of a Major Francis Joseph Christopher Heffernan. Francis Heffernan, was born in Cashel County Tipperary Ireland in 1874, the son of Mortimer and Bridget Heffernan (nee Carew). Returning to India, Francis Heffernan married Edith Close a year later in 1912. Only five years later, however, Francis now a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Army Medical Corps, died from his wounds received while serving in Iraq during the First World War. Edith never remarried and died 1972.

By the start of the First World War Joseph had spent 26 years working in India in both military and civilian medical positions. During the War Joseph now a Lieutenant Colonel served with the special army reserve attached to 2nd Rawalpindi and 3rd Lahore Divisions in India.

In March 1919, Joseph was appointed Surgeon General with the Government of Bengal and elected as a member of the Legislative Council of Fort William. During the following year, he was appointed to officiate as the Inspector General of Civil Hospitals for the United Provinces and became a member of The Legislative Council of the Lieutenant Governor of the United Provinces.

By 1922, Colonel Joseph Kinnear Close had completed a long and distinguished career, making a significant contribution to the provision and advancement of medical services within both military and civilian fields throughout the North East of India.

In recognition of his service, Joseph was appointed Honorary Surgeon to the King 14th February 1922. Joseph retired from the Indian Medical Service on 8th November 1922 having completed 35 years service. Returning from India, Joseph and his wife Sarah settled in Wimbledon Surrey England where they lived until Joseph passed away 29th May 1940.