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BC Books Online was created for anyone interested in BC-published books, and with librarians especially in mind. We'd like to make it easy for library staff to learn about books from BC publishers - both new releases and backlist titles - so you can inform your patrons and keep your collections up to date.
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Description
The previously untold story of a remarkable British Columbian
His name was Horace Wrinch. It was 1880. He was 14 years old, a farmer's boy from England travelling on his own to Quebec. Twenty years later, a qualified doctor and surgeon, he arrived in Hazelton on the Skeena River in northern British Columbia as a Canadian citizen. At this time the northern interior of the province had no qualified doctors, no surgeons and no hospitals. In 1904 Horace built the first hospital in the northern interior. Over the next thirty-six 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 1908. Upon his death in 1939, he was called "the most influential and best liked man that ever blessed this district with his presence."
Contributor Notes
Geoff Mynett was born in Shrewsbury, England. He qualified in London as a barrister, later requalifying as a barrister and solicitor in British Columbia. After a career in law in Vancouver, he is now retired and pursuing an interest in history and the arts. He is also an artist, specializing in charcoal portraits. Research for this biography of Horace Wrinch has taken him to archives and libraries in Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Hazelton, and Smithers. He has also drawn upon family papers, photographs and contemporaneous sources to write this story of a medical pioneer and largely forgotten reformer in British Columbia. Visit him online at www.geoffmynett.com.
Editorial Review
Winner, George Ryga for Social Awareness in literature.
"Mynett brings the human side of Horace Wrinch to life in this accessible and superbly written work." - BC BookWorld
"Through this rigorous study, he portrays a compelling account of Wrinch's life and work." - The British Columbia Review
"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
