Mary Adelaide Runnells Bird (August 21, 1870 – August 31, 1961) was a Canadian physician, described as "one of Canada's first women doctors",[1] and a military hospital surgeon in England during World War I.
Mary Runnells Bird | |
|---|---|
 Mary Runnells Bird, from a 1960 newspaper profile | |
| Born | Mary Adelaide Runnells August 21, 1870 near Granby, Quebec |
| Died | August 31, 1961 (aged 91) Hudson, Quebec |
| Occupation | Physician |
Early life and education
editRunnells was born near Granby, Quebec,[2] the daughter of George W. Runnells and Sarah Edmonds Runnells.[3] As a child, she worked in the cotton mills of Ludlow, Massachusetts to help pay the mortgage on her family's farm. She attended a school in Acton Vale, and graduated from Granby Academy. As a young woman she was encouraged by American physician Jane Elizabeth Hoyt-Stevens to pursue a medical education. Hoyt-Stevens also paid her first-year expenses at Bishop's Medical College in Montreal.[4] Runnells completed her medical degree in 1900. She later held an ad eundum medical degree from McGill University, when her medical school became part of McGill.[1][4]
Career
editDuring World War I, Bird was house surgeon at the private Egginton Hall Hospital in England, established by Ethel Innes Dugdale,[5] where she treated British "wounded men fresh from the trenches."[6] After the war, she was an assistant medical officer in charge of maternal health and child welfare for the City of Derby.[6] In 1923, the Birds moved back to Canada, where she was on the staff of Montreal General Hospital, and an attendant doctor for the YWCA.[7] She lectured on preventive medicine, vaccinations, and addiction topics.[8][9][10]
Personal life
editRunnells married Englishman Charles Glover Bird in 1905, and moved to England.[11] Her husband died in 1954. She died in Hudson, Quebec in 1961, at the age of 91.[12]
References
edit- ^ a b "Early Woman M.D. Dr. Mary Bird Dies". The Sun Times. 1961-09-02. p. 7. Retrieved 2023-04-19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Dr. Mary Bird". The Gazette. 1961-09-02. p. 37. Retrieved 2023-04-19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Mrs. G. W. Runnells, 90; Mother of Rev. A. E., Dr. G. Runnells, and Dr. Mary Bird". The Gazette. 1928-10-13. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-04-19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b O'Connell, Wellner (1961-05-06). "Woman Doctor, 90, Remembers Harsh 1880 Labor Laws". The Montreal Star. p. 28. Retrieved 2023-04-19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Mrs. Dugdale & the Egginton Hall Hospital". Derby Daily Telegraph. 1917-10-22. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-04-19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Lady Doctor Here from War Work; Dr. Mary Bird, Holding Post in England, Visiting Home". The Montreal Star. 1921-09-01. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-04-19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Social and Personal". The Gazette. 1923-03-09. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-04-19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Health Governed by Sixteen Rules; Dr. Mary Bird Tells Trained Attendants Inoculations are Important". The Gazette. 1931-01-07. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-04-19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Dr. Mary Bird to Speak". The Montreal Star. 1922-10-11. p. 27. Retrieved 2023-04-19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Social and Personal". The Gazette. 1927-03-12. p. 8. Retrieved 2023-04-19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Bélanger, Claude. "Quebec History". L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia, Marianopolis College. Retrieved 2023-04-19.
- ^ "Woman Doctor Dies at 91". The Kingston Whig-Standard. 1961-09-02. p. 8. Retrieved 2023-04-19 – via Newspapers.com.