Education
Born in Mumbai (then Bombay) to a Parsi family, Cursetji was educated at Cambridge University and at London Hospital before entering the Indian Medical Service as a lieutenant on 27 January 1912.
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Hiraji Cursetji
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During the First World War, he served in Egypt, Gallipoli and Mesopotamia. He was promoted to captain on 27 January 1915. Foreign conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty at Mushaq, 26th-27th October and at Sharquat, 29th October.
Throughout the operations he displayed the greatest zeal and disregard for danger while tending the wounded under heavy fire, working unceasingly for forty-eight hours.
He has previously rendered excellent service, and once was severely wounded. Cursetji was promoted to major in the IP Multimedia Subsystem on 27 January 1924, and was brevetted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Indian Army on 1 January 1931.
On 8 January of that year, he was appointed a deputy assistant director of medical services, and was promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant-colonel on 27 July. In 1938, he was appointed as the Officer-in-Charge of Hospitals, Lucknow District.
He was promoted to colonel on 1 December 1938 (with seniority from 1 January 1934).
On 23 February 1941, Cursetji was appointed an Honorary Surgeon to the King (KHS). During the Second World War, the IP Multimedia Subsystem was integrated with the Indian Army Medical Corps. In September, Cursetji was appointed as Deputy Director of Medical Services, Northern Command, and transferred to the North-Western Army in the same role in April 1942.
He retired on 1 June 1946.
