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Christopher Widmer
CHRISTOPHER
C
HRISTOPHER WIDMER is a never-to-be-forgotten name in the earIy history of Toronto and throughout Canada. He was born at High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, EngIand, on May 15, 1780. We Iearn from the records of the War Office, London, that he was hospita1 mate in June, 1804 but about a year Iater (Aug. 1805) he was appointed assistant surgeon of the 14th Dragoons, and surgeon to the same regiment on October 24, 181 I. Widmer served with honor in the PeninsuIar War of 1808-14 and took active part in five important battles, earning him the right to wear the meda1 with five cIasps. In the War of 1812, with the defeat of NapoIeon, EngIand was abIe to send some assistance to her CoIony, and so we find Widmer with some of the 14th Dragoons in Canada. At the cIose of the war he decided to stay in the Province, so, on February 25, I 817, he was retired on haIf pay and began the exhausting duties that wouId faI1 to one who was the only quaIified medica man settIed at York (Toronto). NaturaIIy, his fame as a physician and surgeon soon spread and his practice took him on Iong journeys, often in the dead of winter through aImost impassabIe roads. OnIy an experienced horseman couId have ridden 160 miIes without stopping, except to change horses, to attend Lord Sydenham, then at Kingston. In 1820 one of his ambitions was reahzed. A hospita1 was buiIt. It was enIarged in 1824 and again in 1832. In 1832 students attending the hospita1 for
WIDMER
cIinica1 instruction formed the “York Students’ MedicaI Society.” In 1835 the medica profession held a meeting at the hospita1 to form a medica Iibrary. Widmer was interested in public heaIth, at that time at a Iow estate, and urged daiIy empIoyment of scavengers. Widmer accepted many positions and to them gave faithful service. As a member of the LegisIative CounciI he made many journeys to MontreaI and Quebec. He was the first president of the MedicaI and ChirurgicaI Society, which he founded in 1833. He was one of the first in Upper Canada to recognize the vaIue of vaccination, and had notices pubIished in the papers stating that he wouId inocuIate chiIdren of the poor free of charge. The first medica journa1 pubIished in Toronto was the Upper Canada Journal
of Medical, Surgical and Physical Science, 1851-52. In the first voIume Widmer’s name appears at the head of a number of signatures protesting a proposed new medica biI1. We Iearn he was a citizen of high ideaIs, one who had the courage of his convictions. He acquired fame and weaIth, and heId the foremost pIace as surgeon of his time in Canada. In the new home of the old Toronto Genera1 HospitaI hangs a fine painting of him. He had one son to whom he was devoted. This son died in 1857, and a year Iater, whiIe paying a visit to his grave, Christopher Widmer fainted and shortIy afterwards died. T. S. W. 490
CHRISTOPHER [1780-I8581
WIDMER
C
HRISTOPHER WIDMER is a never-to-be-forgotten name in the earIy history of Toronto and throughout Canada. He was born at High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, EngIand, on May 15, 1780. We Iearn from the records of the War Office, London, that he was hospita1 mate in June, 1804 but about a year Iater (Aug. 1805) he was appointed assistant surgeon of the 14th Dragoons, and surgeon to the same regiment on October 24, 181 I. Widmer served with honor in the PeninsuIar War of 1808-14 and took active part in five important battles, earning him the right to wear the meda1 with five cIasps. In the War of 1812, with the defeat of NapoIeon, EngIand was abIe to send some assistance to her CoIony, and so we find Widmer with some of the 14th Dragoons in Canada. At the cIose of the war he decided to stay in the Province, so, on February 25, I 817, he was retired on haIf pay and began the exhausting duties that wouId faI1 to one who was the only quaIified medica man settIed at York (Toronto). NaturaIIy, his fame as a physician and surgeon soon spread and his practice took him on Iong journeys, often in the dead of winter through aImost impassabIe roads. OnIy an experienced horseman couId have ridden 160 miIes without stopping, except to change horses, to attend Lord Sydenham, then at Kingston. In 1820 one of his ambitions was reahzed. A hospita1 was buiIt. It was enIarged in 1824 and again in 1832. In 1832 students attending the hospita1 for
WIDMER
cIinica1 instruction formed the “York Students’ MedicaI Society.” In 1835 the medica profession held a meeting at the hospita1 to form a medica Iibrary. Widmer was interested in public heaIth, at that time at a Iow estate, and urged daiIy empIoyment of scavengers. Widmer accepted many positions and to them gave faithful service. As a member of the LegisIative CounciI he made many journeys to MontreaI and Quebec. He was the first president of the MedicaI and ChirurgicaI Society, which he founded in 1833. He was one of the first in Upper Canada to recognize the vaIue of vaccination, and had notices pubIished in the papers stating that he wouId inocuIate chiIdren of the poor free of charge. The first medica journa1 pubIished in Toronto was the Upper Canada Journal
of Medical, Surgical and Physical Science, 1851-52. In the first voIume Widmer’s name appears at the head of a number of signatures protesting a proposed new medica biI1. We Iearn he was a citizen of high ideaIs, one who had the courage of his convictions. He acquired fame and weaIth, and heId the foremost pIace as surgeon of his time in Canada. In the new home of the old Toronto Genera1 HospitaI hangs a fine painting of him. He had one son to whom he was devoted. This son died in 1857, and a year Iater, whiIe paying a visit to his grave, Christopher Widmer fainted and shortIy afterwards died. T. S. W. 490
CHRISTOPHER [1780-I8581
WIDMER