John Bradford McCONNELL, M. D., D. C. L

Dr. John Bradford McConnell, an able educator in the field of medical science and actively engaged in hospital and private practice, was born at Chatham, Quebec, August 28, 1851, a son of the late Andrew and Martha Jane (Bradford) McConnell, of Lachute, Quebec. In the acquirement of his education he became a student at Dr. Wanless Academy at Carillon, Quebec, and ultimately graduated from McGill University with the degrees of M. D., C. M. in 1873. Still not content with the opportunities that had already been his for preparation for the medical profession, he went abroad and did post-graduate work in Berlin under Professor Koch. From the outset his professional career has been marked by advancement and constantly expanding powers have enabled him to successfully control and check disease when others of less thorough training or of minor devotion to the profession would have failed. His high standing is indicated in the fact that Bishop’s College of Lennoxville selected him for the honor of receiving the D. C. L. degree in 1905. He has long been eminent in the field of medical education and was vice president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, while for many years he was a professor on the medical faculty of Bishop’s College. He has successively occupied the chairs of professor of botany, professor of materia medica, professor of pathology, professor of medicine and of clinical medicine, and was vice dean for a number of years and was acting dean in 1905, when the medical faculty was amalgamated with McGill University, so that his name is inseparably associated with Bishop’s College and the high rank it has attained. Dr. McConnell has also been a member of the staff of the Western Hospital since its establishment and is medical examiner for the Aetna and the Mutual Life Insurance Companies. He was for several years editor of the Canada Medical Record. He has written extensively on medical subjects and his opinions elicit attention, admiration and consideration whenever publicly expressed.

Aside from the strict path of the profession Dr. McConnell has been active and is now a senator of the Wesleyan Theological College of Montreal. He also has an interesting military chapter in his life record, having from 1875 until 1884 served as assistant surgeon of the First Prince of Wales Regiment. In 1875 he married Miss Theodora Lovell, daughter of the late Robert Miller, of Montreal. Dr. McConnell is yet in the prime of life. He has not reached the zenith of his powers, which are constantly unfolding and developing. He keeps in the vanguard of those to whom science is revealing its secrets as the result of careful investigation and wide research, and the broader knowledge which each year brings is familiar to him.