Grenfell of Labrador: A Biography

by Ronald Rompkey

When British doctor Wilfred Grenfell arrived in Newfoundland in 1892 to provide medical service to migrant fisherman, he had no clear sense of who his patients were or how they lived - a few weeks on the Labrador coast changed that. Struck by both the rugged beauty of the place and the difficulties faced by those who lived there, Grenfell devoted the rest of his life to improving theirs.

At first an evangelical missionary of the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fisherman, Grenfell became part of philanthropic movements on both sides of the Atlantic. Raising funds in Canada and the United States, he founded a network of hospitals, nursing stations, schools, and home industries that exists in a modified form to this day. In 1908, the story of his survival after a night marooned on a drifting patch of ice transformed him into a popular hero. He eventually became one of the most successful lecturers of his time.

Ronald Rompkey tells the story of Grenfell's education, his Anglo-Saxonism, and his devotion to broader issues of hygiene and public health. Above all, Rompkey shows that Grenfell went beyond being a doctor or a missionary to become a cultural politician who intervened in a colonial culture. Grenfell of Labrador provides a vivid picture of the man himself and the social movements through which he worked.

Genres: Biography

350 pages, Hardcover

First published May 5, 1993

Reviews

[Jennifer Yuen · Rating 3 out of 5]

hard to read at first, but became more interesting as I went on

There were a lot of dates and names and places, especially at the be, which made this a bit of a slog to get through. There were typos that were distracting. However, it turned more interesting about a third of the way in, as there was more character development. I suppose if one is wanting to read history, this is a good book!

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the last two books I've read, one dystopian and one on political corruption, it was a real pleasure to read a good sized book about an admirable human being who made his life an adventure. The book came to me via my aunt in Canada, who had bought it at a church second-hand sale knowing that I and my wife had actually worked in St. Anthony at "The Mission" in the late 1960s while I was a medical student. Sir Wilfred Grenfell, who died in 1937, has been a personal hero of mine since I was ten years old.

The book is shelved under bio, sea stories (Sir Wilf was more a seaman than I had known), travel (Newfoundland and Labrador are today tourist destinations) and social science (Grenfell pioneered in delivering medical services to fisherman and their families at sea and ashore). It could also be under spiritual, in that, though a layman, he was an enthusiastic Christian.

The book gives a good picture of the rigors and rewards of WTG's life on the coast, a clear-eyed picture of a sustained and sustaining marriage. It has a lot on aspects of his life I knew little about such as his career as a very successful lecturer and fund-raiser, his battles with merchants who he recognized exploited the fisherfolk, his disagreements with the Newfoundland mercantile and the mainline church establishment.

I have not read other biographies to which to compare this, probably the most recent. The writing is solid, the documentation thorough, the balance between adulation and iconoclasm good in my eye, net inspiring. In Marc Antony's words, "Nature might stand up and say to all the world 'this was a man.'"

At 301 pages of text, dense pages, this book is too long for an introduction to a humanitarian hero. I would recommend it for people with an interest in one of more of the following fields: "Frontier medicine," "medical missionaries" history of Nfld and Labrador, "muscular Christianity," "Social reform movement" (e.g. Charles Kingsley, Salvation Army, settlement houses, Jacob Riis."
Lovers of Captains Courageous; and students of the history of tuberculosis. (see The White Plague: Tuberculosis, Man and Society

Fun facts about Sir Wilfred from this book:
He was a protege of Sir Frederick Treves, who took care of David Merrick, "the elephant man." Treves supported his efforts for years.
He was the first person to get an honorary doctorate in medicine from Oxford
He introduced reindeer to North America but the experimnent did not get enough funding from the govt to be perpetuated.

Not in this book, but my add-ons

He is alleged to have said "Start something; someone else will finish it." I don't have a source for this.

On his gravestone, a boulder on a hill above St Anthony, is inscribed (if I remember right) "Life is a field of honour."