Frank Richardson England, M. D., C. M

Dr. Frank Richardson England, an alumnus of Bishop’s College of Montreal and now well known as a practical educator as well as a successful practitioner, was born August 21, 1862, at Cowansville, province of Quebec, and is the eldest son of Francis and Jane (Ruiter) England, of Dunham, Quebec. The family comes of United Empire Loyalist stock and the parents are now deceased.

While Dr. England acquired his early education at Waterloo, he pursued his medical course at Bishop’s College in Montreal, from which he was graduated with the class of 1885, the degrees of M. D. and C. M. being then conferred upon him, and obtaining the Wood and Nelson gold medals. He was professor of diseases of children at Bishop’s College in 1887 and professor of surgery in the same institution in 1894. In 1905 he was graduated at McGill College (ad eund). The profession has honored him with official distinction, for in 1906 he was chosen president of the Montreal Medico-Chirurgical Society and the following year was vice president of the Canadian Medical Association. He is a governor and fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He is now, 1914, surgeon of the Western Hospital at Montreal and in his surgical practice displays comprehensive knowledge of anatomy, of the component parts of the human body and of the onslaughts made upon it by disease or left to it as a legacy by progenitors. He is cool and collected at critical moments and combines strength with tenderness, seeking ever the ultimate good of patient and of profession.

Dr. England was married twice. In 1887 he wedded Carrie Ann, youngest daughter of the late R. L. Galer, of Dunham. Following her death Dr. England married Octavia Grace Ritchie, B. A., M. D., of Montreal, the youngest daughter of the late Thomas W. Ritchie, Q. C. She was born in Montreal and became a student in McGill University, winning the degree of Bachelor of Arts, together with first class honors in natural science in 1883. She was afterward graduated from Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, Quebec, with the degree of M. D. and C. M. in 1891. She was one of the first class of ladies to graduate from McGill and the first woman to receive a medical degree in the province of Quebec. Mrs. England took a scholarship at Kingston and later pursued a post-graduate course at Vienna, Austria. She has done much to arouse public feeling in favor of the medical education of women in Quebec and was secretary of the organization called the Donalda Students to procure this concession. She is now a governor of the Western Hospital and was assistant gynecologist there from 1894 until 1896. She has lectured on medical subjects before the Women’s Club and the Young Women’s Christian Association. She is a member of the Montreal Medico-Chirurgical Society and was a delegate to the Quinquennial Congress of the National Council of Women at Toronto in 1909. She is president of the local council of the National Council of Women. In 1897 she became the wife of Dr. Frank Richardson England of Montreal. Both continue actively in the practice of the profession, and each has a large clientage, indicating the prominence to which they have attained.