Medical Officers
Of the Malta Garrison
Joseph Trigance
1788 – 1852

Service Record

24 Oct 1812 Appointed Hospital Mate for General Service.

25 Oct 1812–24 May 1816 Hospital Mate, during which time he served in Sicily, The Peninsula, Genoa, and Malta.

7 Mar 1814 Hospital Assistant. Recommended for permanent rank having served throughout the Peninsular War. Afterwards served in Genoa for several months before being posted to Messina in charge of medical stores.

Malta Dec 1815 Hospital Assistant. Arrived from Messina.

Malta Jan 1816 Proceeded to England in charge of invalids. Returned to Malta on 24 Mar 1816.

24 May 1816 Left Malta.

Mar/Apr 1817 Embarked on the transport ship Admiral Gambier for Ceylon. Shipwrecked in the Mozambique Channel on 20 June 1817, losing all his possessions. Was rescued by the French vessel Titus near the Comoro Islands, to the north west of Madagascar after 8 days at sea. Landed in Calcutta from where he made his way to Ceylon
Was wounded in the 3rd Kandyan War.

9 Nov 1820 Assistant Surgeon 67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot. After five years in India was reduced to half pay to recover his health.

9 Jan 1826 Aged 37 years, married Louisa Papera aged 25 years at the parish of St Margaret, Westminster, Middlesex, London. Louisa died on 16 Sep 1843.

6 Sep 1826 Returned to full pay service.

15 June 1830 Staff Assistant Surgeon Trigance was appointed Apothecary to the Forces vice Apothecary Henry Barnard Burman who died in Jamaica on 28 March 1830.

16 July 1830 Staff Assistant Surgeon Corfu. Embarked for Gibraltar.

1831 Staff Assistant Surgeon Corfu. Moved to Gibraltar from Corfu, but returned to England shortly after as his sight had diminished through cataracts. Underwent the operation for cataracts by Deputy Inspector of Hospitals George Guthrie. He then proceeded to Chatham where he served for several months as Acting Surgeon of the Provincial Battalion.

5 Dec 1834 Gazetted Surgeon 30th (Cambridgeshire) Regiment vice Surgeon Samuel Ayrault Piper, who became surgeon to the Provisional Battalion. The vacancy on the staff was filled by Assistant Surgeon Edward McIver 23rd Foot on 19 December 1834.

Apr 1835 Joined his regiment in Bermuda.

10 Jan 1844 Placed on half pay due to ill health.

1 May 1844 Married Sarah Jane Fryer at St Mary, Lambeth London.

3 Sep 1852 Died aged 64 years, at No 14 Chester Terrace Borough Road Southwark, Surrey, after a painful illness of five weeks (erysipelas). His five orphans were granted £25 from the Army Medical Officers Benevolent Fund.