Norman Bethune (13 August 1822 – 12 October 1892) was the son of Angus Bethune who was a fur trader. Norman was born in

Moose Factory Moose Factory is a community in the Cochrane District, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Moose Factory Island, near the mouth of the Moose River (Ontario), Moose River, which is at the southern end of James Bay. It was the first English language ...

Rupert's Land Rupert's Land (), or Prince Rupert's Land (), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin. The right to "sole trade and commerce" over Rupert's Land was granted to Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), based a ...

. Because of his father's family connections, such as his brother, Donald Bethune, the family moved to Toronto in 1840 where Norman was enrolled in

Upper Canada College Upper Canada College (UCC) is an independent day and boarding school for boys in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as Canada's most prestigious preparatory school, and ha ...

. From there he went for an arts degree at King's College and then to medical school in England where he graduated in 1848 as a member of the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations ...

. In 1849, Norman and four other doctors started a third medical school in Toronto called the Upper Canada School of Medicine. When a big dispute broke out over the conversion of Kings College to a secular school, the University of Toronto, Bishop

John Strachan John Strachan (; 12 April 1778 – 1 November 1867) was a notable figure in Upper Canada, an "elite member" of the Family Compact, and the first Anglican Bishop of Toronto. He is best known as a political bishop who held many government posit ...

started

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

as a new Anglican alternative. The Upper Canada Medical Group, including Bethune, became the medical faculty of the new college. However, the medical school had difficulty in attracting enough paying Anglican students and started offering instruction to others as well. A dispute broke out with Strachan, causing the mass resignation of the medical faculty. Bethune and many other faculty joined the Toronto School of Medicine. He taught successfully there and then returned to Trinity College in 1871. He was professor of surgery there until 1881. His career drew little recorded notice from that time until his death. His career spans an era when science separated itself from religion and government became increasingly involved in the funding of medical education. In 1859, while traveling in Europe, he journeyed to Italy, to tend those wounded in the

Battle of Solferino The Battle of Solferino (referred to in Italy as the Battle of Solferino and San Martino) on 24 June 1859 resulted in the victory of the allied Second French Empire, French army under Napoleon III and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, Piedmont- ...

Henri Dunant Henry Dunant (born Jean-Henri Dunant; 8 May 182830 October 1910), also known as Henri Dunant, was a Swiss humanitarian, businessman, social activist, and co-founder of the Red Cross. His humanitarian efforts won him the first Nobel Peace Prize i ...

was impressed by Bethune's efforts, and mentioned him as "Norman Bettun" in ''

A Memory of Solferino ''A Memory of Solferino'' (French: ''Un souvenir de Solférino'') is a book of the Swiss humanitarian Henry Dunant published in 1862. It proved decisive in the founding of the International Committee of the Red Cross.Henry Dunant, ''A Memory o ...

''. He had a grandson, Henry Norman Bethune who also became a physician and achieved high recognition for his medical work and his activity in China with

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

's army.

References

Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online

Henry Dunant and Norman Bethune: A Canadian surgeon who worked with H. Dunant at thebattle f Solferino

A Memory of Solferino
Norman Bethune 1822 births 1892 deaths 19th-century Canadian physicians People from Rupert's Land Upper Canada College alumni {{Canada-med-bio-stub