Gurd, Fraser B. (Fraser Baillie), 1883-1948

Fraser B. (Baillie) Gurd was born on January 7, 1883, in Montreal, Quebec.

In 1906, he graduated from the McGill Medical School and began a career as a surgeon at the Montreal General Hospital (MGH), a part of three generations of the Gurd family surgeons. In 1914, at the start of WWI, he enlisted but was rejected by the Canadians due to his lack of experience. Undeterred, he was accepted by the British War Office and he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1915. He served in Air-sur-Lys, France, on the front-line where he gained tremendous medical experience treating sick and injured soldiers. He made a name for himself by changing the surgical dressing technique. In 1919, he returned to the MGH, later becoming a surgeon-in-chief. He also began an academic career at McGill University where he introduced the McGill Diploma Course in Surgery. He lobbied for a program of increasing surgical responsibility for the residents.
He participated in the work that developed the first T. B. Chest-X-Ray Clinic in Montreal.

In 1910, he married Jessie Gibson Newman. He died in February 1948 in Montreal, Quebec.