Surgeon, Captain Geo J. Ferris

Subedhar Major was the highest rank and Indian Doctor could attain in the British Army. It was equivalent to the British rank of Captain.

Born in Codialbail (in the same house as his mother had been born), George started school at the age of six years at Milagres School. From the 4th to the 7th std. he studied at St. Aloysius College after which his studies were suspended as his father went bankrupt and could not afford the fees. For two years after that, his maternal uncle sent him to St. Joseph's College in Trichinopoly before abruptly withdrawing his sponsorship. George therefore went to Mumbai and got a job at M/S Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. in Parel.

While working, he applied for and passed the medical entrance exam and was admitted into the Sassoon Hospital, Pune on Sept 15, 1903. He opted for the military line and changed his name from FARIAS to FERRIS

George enlisted in the Indian Medical Department of the Indian Army at Pune on 15th September 1906. After serving for a year in the Military Hospital he was transferred to the Military Hospitals of various places, viz. Mhaw, Wellington, Lahore,and Delhi. In 1913, he was attached to the No. 7 Mountain Battery as the Medical Officer and sent along with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force to Cairo, Egypt. While he was there, World War I broke out. He was attached to the British Expeditionary Force "A" of the British Army and posted to England and later to France where he landed in Le Havre. In December 1915, he was attached to the 3rd Brigade Headquarters of the British Army and posted to the British Salonika Forces. He saw active duty in Flanders and Ypres where there was the heaviest shelling by the Germans. For distinguished service he received the 1914 Star, The British War Medal and The Victory Medal. It was here while attending to the wounded that he was awarded the Indian Order of Merit along with a citation that states "Sub-Assistant Surgeon Ferris attended to casualty after casualty under heavy shell fire with utter disregard to his personal safety". He was mentioned in dispatches and commended for valuable services rendered in the field on 25th September 1918. He was also awarded the Indian Distinguished Service Medal for my services during the war. He returned to India at the end of WW1 in 1919 where he continued to serve and was a recipient of The King George V Jubilee Medal 1910-35, The King George VI Coronation Medal 1937

Due for retirement in 1941, as the Second World War was raging, he was not permitted to retire until the termination of the war. For his services rendered during the second world war, He was awarded O.B.I (Order of British India) and the M.B.E. (Member of the British Empire) with the title of Sardar Bahadur. On retirement he settled down in Bangalore until his death on 15th May, 1967.