James Fisher (before 1776 – June 26, 1822) was a physician and political figure in

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

. He was probably born in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and came to the

Province of Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

in 1776 as an aide at the military hospital at

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

. In 1783, he was named garrison surgeon. In 1787, he proposed that a medical board be set up to qualify physicians and surgeons to practice in the province; Fisher served on the first such board when it was set up the following year. In 1789, he was named a doctor at the Hôpital Général at Quebec. He was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The lower house consisted of el ...

for Northumberland County in 1796. Fisher was named physician for the

Ursulines of Quebec The Ursuline Monastery of Quebec City (french: Monastère des Ursulines de Québec) was founded by a missionary group of Ursuline nuns in 1639 under the leadership of Mother Marie of the Incarnation, O.S.U. It is the oldest institution of learni ...

in 1807 and commissioner for insane asylums in 1814. In 1815, he retired from the military and, in 1816, returned to Scotland. He died in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

in 1822. A number of well-reputed early physicians in Lower Canada were trained by Fisher: * François Blanchet * John McLoughlin * Joseph Painchaud * Anthony von Iffland

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, James 1822 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada Year of birth uncertain