OCTAVIA GRACE RITCIE
By Susan Button, on behalf of the Centenary Committee
Octavia Grace Ritchie
Who was the first woman to earn a medical degree in Quebec?
It was one of the UWCM’s founding members, Octavia Grace Ritchie England, who received her medical degree from Bishop’s in 1891.
In 1888, Octavia Grace Ritchie, one of the “Donaldas,” became McGill’s first female valedictorian – the top student in her graduating class. The ladies in this first class were called “Donaldas” in recognition of the gift of $50,000 from Sir Donald Smith (1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal) which endowed the funds for the first two years of separate classes for women. He gave a further $70,000 in 1886 to pay for the third and fourth years, completing what was to be known as the Donalda Endowment for the Higher Education of Women. In 1896 he fulfilled his promise to build a separate college for women students and gave $300,000 for the construction of the Royal Victoria College (located on the corner of University and Sherbrooke Streets and now known as the Strathcona Music Building, with a new adjoining building, the Elizabeth Wirth Music Building, named in honour of our own valued and distinguished UWCM member, who is a McGill alumna and outstanding philanthropist.
Octavia, in her graduation ceremony speech, thanked Sir Donald Smith for his contributions and reflected on the progress made by women during her time as one of the first female students at McGill. At the time there were debates about the preference for co-education, under which the sexes would meet in the same classrooms, and separate education, under which the teaching of the sexes should be given at different hours.
There were also views held by some that young women were not suited to higher education. The Blue Stockings Society, an informal women’s social and educational movement in England in the mid-18th century, emphasised education and mutual cooperation. From the early 1750’s, Elizabeth Montagu began hosting intellectual gatherings or salons. Soon, other wealthy, accomplished women followed her lead. The term “Blue Stocking” came to mean an educated and independent woman.
As Margaret Gillett says in her book, We Walked Very Warily: A History of Women at McGill, throughout most of the 19th century, the term took on negative overtones and a “Blue Stocking” became an object of scorn, even pity. “She would be doomed to a sterile, lonely existence, unmarried and unmarriageable, for who would want an opiniated, strong-minded woman? Nothing could be worse.”1
In spite of some societal views, Octavia also used her speech to advocate for women to be admitted as students to the Faculty of Medicine. At the end of her speech, she said to the crowd, “A medical course should be provided for women in this city and in this province. Sometime it must be done; the only question is when?”2
Despite Octavia’s brave plea, it would take another 30 years for women to be admitted as medical students at McGill.
Octavia herself wanted to study medicine at McGill, but unable to, she went to Kingston Women’s Medical College in Ontario. Later, she moved to Bishop’s and finished her medical studies there in 1891. This made her the first woman in Quebec to get a medical degree.
While studying at Bishop’s, Octavia Grace Ritchie and her friend Maude Abbott, who followed Octavia as McGill Class Valedictorian in 1890 and earned a medical degree in 1894 (also a distinguished founding member of the UWCM started an important group. It was called the Association for the Professional Education of Women. This group helped other women who wanted to get advanced degrees, especially in medicine.
Following study abroad, Octavia was appointed assistant gynecologist at Western Hospital (opened in 1874 on Dorchester Street and merged with the Montreal General Hospital in 1924) and as demonstrator in anatomy at Bishop’s. In 1897 Octavia married Dr. Frank Richardson England and the couple had one daughter, Esther, in 1905. Esther, known as Mrs. Eric Cushing, was also a founding member of the UWCM in 1927.
Octavia was active in local, national and international groups promoting humanitarian causes and women’s rights. From 1911 to 1917, she was the president of the local Council of Women. She led the Montreal Women’s Liberal Club starting in 1921. She was also a vice-president of the National Council of Women in Canada. In addition, she traveled to represent Canada at international meetings. In 1914, she attended the International Council of Women meeting in Rome, Italy, and in 1922, she went to the Pan-American Conference of Women in Baltimore, USA.
Octavia Grace Ritchie England died in 1948 at the age of 80.
In 1979, the Octavia Grace Ritchie England Scholarship was established in her memory by the McGill Women’s Alumnae Association.
Notes:
- Margaret Gillett: We Walked Very Warily: A History of Women at McGill (Montreal, Eden Press. 1981), pg.13.
- Octavia Grace Ritchie: First female valedictorian – Bicentennial – McGill University