Horace was born on a farm in Essex, and travelled to Canada at the age of 14, seemingly alone. After finishing his schooling at an agricultural college in Quebec, he farmed in Ontario for about fifteen years. Converted to Methodism, he became determined to serve as a medical missionary, and to that end qualified as a doctor and surgeon at Trinity Medical College, taking top honours. He married Alice Breckon, a nurse and schoolteacher, and someone as dedicated to service as himself. In 1900 they travelled to Kispiox in the Upper Skeena district in northern British Columbia and in a couple of years they moved to Hazelton, where he built a hospital, founded a nursing school and started a hospital farm. It was the first hospital in the interior of British Columbia from Atlin in the far north to the Cariboo. In 1907, to help fund the hospital and to create a sense of community around it, he established a basic form of health insurance. For a dollar a month a member could obtain a ticket entitling him or her to medical and hospital services. This scheme lasted for several decades. Horace was a magistrate for over twenty years, a community leader and a minister of the Methodist Church. Always interested in public health, he helped found the British Columbia Hospital Association in late 1917 (or early 1918) and served as its president for two terms. Drawn into politics in 1924, he served as an M.L.A. for two terms. In the Legislature in Victoria he became a well-known advocate for state health insurance. He introduced a motion for its adoption it in 1927. 'Mr. Speaker, ' Victoria's Daily Colonist recorded him as saying, 'the necessity of health insurance legislation is a matter of vital importance for the people of this province. ... In discussing the idea with sensible people, I have failed to hear one cogent argument advanced against the project.' Continuing, he argued that the time had come for the House to commence the process of introducing province-wide health insurance for all citizens. His motion in the House propelled the train of events that led to the British Columbia Health Insurance Act. Given Royal Assent on April 1, 1936, this Act was the culmination of many years of work by Horace and many others.
Authors
Related Organizations
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references and index
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Date published
- 2020.
- Description conventions
- rda
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 610/.92
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 23
- Distributor
- Canadian Electronic Library (Firm),
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- Geographic Area Code
- n-cn-bc
- ISBN
- 9781553805779 1553805755
- LCCN
- R464.W75
- LCCN Item number
- M96 2019eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- NLC
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (449 pages, 26 unnumbered pages of plates)
- Published in
- Ottawa, Ontario
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)kck00241094 (OCoLC)1191844902 (CaOOCEL)480329
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- NLC
Table of Contents
- GEOFF MYNETT 1
- SERVICE SKEENA 1
- GEOFF MYNETT 1
- Introduction 12
- The Farmers Boy 18661880 16
- Farmer Missionary and Medic 18801900 30
- Up the Skeena River to Kispiox 19001902 58
- Building Home and Hospital 19021905 89
- New York Interlude 1906 124
- Murder Missionaries and Medicine 19061908 137
- Community Cars and the Coming of the Railroad 19081913 167
- Mining X-rays and Daylight Robbery 19121914 197
- The War Years 19141918 224
- Brave New World 19181923 254
- Stepping into Politics 19241928 287
- Health Insurance Advocate 19281933 317
- Last Years 19331939 347
- Afterword 370
- Authors Note 374
- Dr. Wrinchs Maiden Speech in the British Columbia Legislature as Reported by the on November 14 and 21 1924 378
- Recollections of Harold Wrinch Notes on the Hospital Farm 384
- Receipts and Disbursements of Hazelton Hospital 388
- Acquisition of Land for the Hospital in 1902 390
- Bridges across the Skeena and Bulkley Rivers 402
- Three Hazeltons and Two Railway Stations 414
- Notes 420
- Selected Bibliography 468
- Acknowledgements 470
- About the Author 472
- Index 474
- GEOFF MYNETT 488
- SERVICE SKEENA 488
- GEOFF MYNETT 488
