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MAUDE ABBOTT - (1869 - 1940)

© Mary M. Alward

Maude Babin was born March 18, 1869, in the small town of St.Andrews, Quebec. Her father deserted the family just after she was born. Her Mother died of tuberculosis before she was a year old. Her maternal grandmother adopted Maude and her sister, Alice. Their surname became Abbott.

Maude didn't attend school. She was tutored at home. She loved to read and had a desire to go to school. In those days, only boys attended high school. In 1875, the first high school for girls opened in Montreal. Maude attended. In 1885, she won a scholarship to study at McGill University.

Maude started at McGill in 1885. She only stayed three weeks because of an outbreak of small pox. She returned to McGill in 1886.

Maude completed her art degree in 1890. She won the Lord Stanley Gold Medal and graduated as class valedictorian. She earned a diploma for teaching, but she wasn't interested. Maude wanted to be a doctor.

Maude knew she would have to fight for entrance into medical school. Women could train as doctors in Ontario, the United States and Europe, but not in Quebec. McGill didn't accept women.

Maude learned that Bishop's College in Montreal was accepting women. She entered the Faculty of Medicine there in 1890. In 1894, she graduated with honors and won the Chancellor's Prize and the Senior Anatomy Prize.

Maude and her sister, Alice, left on a tour of Europe. Their visit included Vienna, the center of the medical world at that time. Then, disaster struck. Alice came down with diphtheria. Though she survived, she had suffered brain damage. Maude would care for her for the next 40 years.

In 1897, Maude opened her own practice in Montreal. One day while visiting McGill, she met Dr. Charles Martin, who had supervised her medial training. He asked Maude to take up research at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital. Maude accepted. Her first project was researching heart murmurs.

McGill University had a medical museum. In 1898, Maude was hired as the assistant curator. Maude visited medical museums throughout the United States to see how they were run. On a trip to Washington, D.C., she met famous Canadian Dr. William Osler, who had once worked at McGill. He answered Maude's questions and gave her excellent advice. Maude became an expert on how to set up a medical museum. In 1901, she was promoted to curator of the medical museum at McGill. By 1904, it was compulsory for all medical students at McGill to take a course at the museum.

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