History Pre-confederation (to 1867)
Service on the Skeena
Horace Wrinch, Frontier Physician
- Publisher
- Ronsdale Press
- Initial publish date
- Dec 2019
- Category
- Pre-Confederation (to 1867), Expeditions & Discoveries, Adventurers & Explorers
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781553805755
- Publish Date
- Nov 2019
- List Price
- $28.95
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781553805762
- Publish Date
- Dec 2019
- List Price
- $21.99
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Description
His name was Horace Wrinch. It was 1880. He was fourteen years old, a farmer’s boy from England travelling on his own to Quebec. Twenty years later, a qualified doctor and newly married surgeon, he arrived in Hazelton on the Skeena River in northern British Columbia. In 1904, Horace built the first hospital in the northern interior of the province, which until his arrival had no resident doctors, no surgeons and no hospital. Over the next thirty-two years, he became widely respected as a doctor and surgeon, hospital administrator, medical missionary, Methodist minister, magistrate, farmer, community leader and progressive politician. Ever innovative, he instituted a form of health insurance for the Hazelton community as early as 1907. In the 1920s, he was a two-term president of the newly established British Columbia Hospital Association and a two-term Liberal Member of the Provincial Legislature for the Skeena riding. While in the Legislature, he championed publicly funded health insurance. Upon his death in 1939, he was called “the best known and most beloved man in Northern British Columbia.” His legacy remains in Wrinch Memorial Hospital in Hazelton. Drawn almost entirely from original and contemporaneous sources, this is the previously untold story of a remarkable British Columbian.
About the author
Geoff Mynett was born in England where he qualified as a Barrister. After emigrating to British Columbia in 1973, he became a Canadian citizen, requalified as a lawyer and practiced law until his retirement. His first book, Service on the Skeena: Horace Wrinch, Frontier Physician (Ronsdale Press, 2019), received a Jeanne Clarke Memorial Award. His second book, Pinkerton's and the Hunt for Simon Gunanoot, and his third book, Murders on the Skeena: True Crime in the Old Canadian West, were both published by Caitlin Press. All three books were bestsellers in BC. Geoff and his wife Alice live in Vancouver and have two sons.
Awards
- Winner, George Ryga Award
- Winner, Jeanne Clark Award
Editorial Reviews
“Service on the Skeena not only provides the fascinating life story of this remarkable man, it also fills important gaps in the history of northwest B.C.” — Neil Sterritt, Former Gitxsan-Wet’suwet’en Tribal Council President
“I highly recommend this excellent biography of an outstanding pioneer doctor.” — BC Medical Journal
“Many in the general public and among scholars will appreciate Mynett’s contribution, and future historians of northern British Columbia, of the history of health care and health insurance, and of missionary doctors will find in this book an excellent source for further research.” –BC Studies
“Through this rigorous study, he portrays a compelling account of Wrinch’s life and work.” –The British Columbia Review
“Mynett brings the human side of Horace Wrinch to life in this accessible and superbly written work.” –BC BookWorld
Other titles by
A Gentleman of Considerable Talent
William Brown and the Fur Trade, 1811-1827
The Eventful Life of Philip Hankin
Worldwide Traveller and Witness to British Columbia's Early History
River of Mists
People of the Upper Skeena, 1833-1930
River of Mists
People of the Upper Skeena, 1821-1930
Murders on the Skeena
True Crime in the Old Canadian West, 1884-1914
Pinkerton's and the Hunt for Simon Gunanoot
Double Murder, Secret Agents and an Elusive Outlaw