Octavia Grace Ritchie England (16 January 1868 – 1 February 1948) was a Canadian physician and suffragist. In 1891 she became the first woman to receive a medical degree in Québec.

Early life and education

Octavia Grace Ritchie was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, the daughter of Thomas Weston Ritchie and Jessie Torrance Fisher. Her father was a lawyer. She attended the Montreal High School for Girls. In 1888, she was the first woman valedictorian at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

. She wanted to continue into medical school at McGill, but was denied admission on the basis of gender. Instead, she attended Kingston Women's Medical College, then transferred to Bishop's College, where she completed her studies in 1891, becoming the first woman to earn a medical degree in Québec. As medical students at Bishop's, Octavia Grace Ritchie and

Maude Abbott Maude Elizabeth Seymour Abbott (March 18, 1868Sources disagree on the date of Abbott's birth. The Canadian Encyclopedia'Maude Abbott Medical Museum and the ' are among the sources that support a birthdate of 18 March 1868. However, articles in the ...

formed an organization,

Association for the Professional Education of Women Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

, to advocate for other women seeking medical or other advanced degrees.

Career

Ritchie was appointed a Demonstrator in Anatomy at Bishop's College, and assistant gynaecologist at Western Hospital. After she married, she turned more to advocacy work, supporting causes for women's rights and public health. She was president of the local Council of Women from 1911 to 1917; she was also president of the Montréal Women's Liberal Club, from 1921, and vice-president of the National Council of Women of Canada. She represented Canada at the 1914

International Council of Women The International Council of Women (ICW) is a women's rights organization working across national boundaries for the common cause of advocating human rights for women. In March and April 1888, women leaders came together in Washington, D.C., with ...

meeting in Rome; in 1922, she once again represented Canada, this time at the

Pan-American Conference of Women Pan-American Conference of Women occurred in Baltimore, Maryland, US in 1922. It was held in connection with the third annual convention of the National League of Women Voters in Baltimore on April 20 to 29, 1922. Cooperating with the League in b ...

in Baltimore. She was active with La Ligue des Droits de la Femme, which sought the vote for women in Québec provincial elections. In 1930, she ran for a seat in the Canadian Parliament as the Liberal candidate from Mount Royal. A collection of her original letters is conserved at the

Osler Library of the History of Medicine The Osler Library, a branch of the McGill University Library and part of ROAAr since 2016, is Canada's foremost scholarly resource for the history of medicine, and one of the most important libraries of its type in North America. It is located i ...

Personal life

Octavia Grace Ritchie became the second wife of a fellow doctor, Frank Richardson England, in 1897. They had a daughter, Esther Ritchie England. Octavia Grace Ritchie England died in 1948, aged 80 years. In 1979, McGill Alumnae established an Octavia Grace Ritchie England Scholarship in her memory. The home on Bishop Street where the Englands lived, designed by architect

Robert Findlay Robert Findlay (1859–1951) was a Scottish-born Canadian architect. He was born in Inverness, Scotland, and moved to Montreal in 1885. He won the competition to expand the first Sun Life Building and was the architect for that project, which ...

, is now a pub."Our History"
McKibbins Irish Pub.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritchie, Octavia 1868 births 1948 deaths Canadian gynaecologists Canadian suffragists High School of Montreal alumni McGill University alumni