This is the simple and once not uncommon kind of tale of a medical officer who
served his country around the world in the declining days of Empire. Erom Edinburgh
(what a great story 'Scots and Empire' makes!) into the Indian Medical
Service shortly before the outbreak of the war; then Singapore and all the brutality
and bravery of captivity under the Japanese; to Nyasaland with the Colonial Medical Service in 1951; and on to the Barbados in 1963, before retiring in 1969 first to South
Africa and finally home to Auld Reekie, certainly to bagpipes, possibly haggis.... and
doubtless still to dogs galore, if we read the captions at pp. 70 and 97 aright!
Goodbye to Empire is a straightforward narrative, attractively produced by the
Pentland Press complete with very family snaps, its text is often as heavily medical as
befits a doctor and as doggedly unpretentious as becomes a guid Scot.
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