Minerva Reid

Minerva Ellen Reid (1872 – May 28, 1957) was a teacher, doctor, politician in Toronto, Canada. In 1915, Reid became the first female chief of surgery in North America.[1]

Background

Reid was born in Orangeville, Ontario and went to school at Camilla Public School and Orangeville District Secondary School. An extremely bright student, she passed her entrance exams at age 11 in 1883.[2] After obtaining her teaching certificate she moved to Tillsonburg, Ontario to live with her brother John Buchanan Reid (b. July 13, 1861 - d. May 24, 1931) who was also a doctor.[3]

While in Tillsonburg, Reid worked as a teacher in the communities of Watford and Tillsonburg. However, living with her brother, she was inspired to become a doctor and soon left teaching to pursue that goal.

She and her sister, Hannah Emily Reid (b. January 19, 1870 - May 27, 1955), attended medical school in Toronto, graduating together in 1905.[4]

Reid travelled to London, England and Dublin, Ireland to complete her training as a surgeon. When she arrived at the medical school in Dublin on a dark evening she was met by the house doctor who had no idea what to do with this young woman seeking education at the wholly male institution. She had to be bedded down for the night in the school dining room, as there was no other appropriate accommodation.[5]

Reid and her sister, Hannah, worked at Women's College Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The sisters both served on the first Board of Directors for the hospital. Reid was Chief of Surgery and her sister was Chief of Anesthesiology. The sisters frequently worked together with Hannah administering the anesthetic while she operated on a patient.[6]

Politics and activism

Reid was active in the Suffragette cause, and led several rallies to support the establishment of Sunnybrook Hospital for the care of men wounded in the war. As a member of the Toronto Women's Committee she once wrote to Prime Minister Mackenzie King that "the building is old, cockroach-infested and rat-ridden, and sick and wounded men are suffering there needlessly."[7]

She was politically active and ran provincially in the 1929 Ontario provincial election for High Park district as a Prohibitionist candidate and federally in the 1935 federal election for High Park as a Reconstruction Party of Canada candidate. She also ran twice for the Toronto Board of Control in 1942 and 1943.

References

  1. ↑ "Women's College Kicks Off 100 Years of Women's Health". Connect. Women's Health College. 24 January 2011. Retrieved Jan 8, 2013.
  2. ↑ Kristen Buckley; Neil Ross. "125 Annette St".
  3. ↑ Tillsonburg News, June 4, 1931, Page 3, Dr. JB Reid Obituary.
  4. ↑ "The John Reid Family". Orangeville Citizen Newspaper. 2010-07-29.
  5. ↑ Marshall, Bess Reid (1982). Through The Beaver Meadow – Reid History 1778-1982.
  6. ↑ Thompson, Dorothy; Kronberg, Jean. "History of the Department of Anaesthesia Women's College Hospital" (PDF). Women's Health College. Retrieved Jan 8, 2013.
  7. ↑ NA, Mackenzie Papers, Vol. 49, File 50&45(A), Dr. Minerva E. Reid to Mackenzie, 15 August 1944.
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