Grenfell, Wilfred Thomason, Sir, 1865-1940

Wilfred Grenfell was a doctor and medical missionary born in Cheshire, England. He studied medicine at London University. After graduating in 1887 he joined the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen (the Fishermen’s Mission), a British charitable organization dedicated to providing material, medical, and spiritual support to fishermen at out sea and settled in remote locations. In 1892, Grenfell lead the first medical mission to Labrador, backed by the Fishermen’s Mission. The mission, later known as the Grenfell Labrador Medical Mission, provided medical support to fishermen stationed along the Labrador coast and to their communities, including some Inuit, Innu, and Southern Inuit communities. Grenfell established Labrador’s first hospital in Battle Harbour in 1893, supplemented by medical vessels that traveled between settlements. In addition to his work as a doctor, Grenfell took an active role in fundraising for the mission, writing books and arranging speaking tours, especially in the United States. In 1909, Grenfell married Anne Elizabeth Caldwell MacClanahan, who took an active role in the mission and with whom he had a daughter and two sons. After the Fishermen’s Mission withdrew their support from the mission in 1912, Grenfell incorporated the organization under the name “Grenfell International Association” in 1914 and continued fundraising efforts. By the time of his retirement in 1932, the mission had expanded to six hospitals and four hospital ships, as well as several nursing stations, boarding schools, a seaman’s institute in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and a number of cooperatives designed to help the fishing communities generate wealth and become more self-sufficient. Grenfell was awarded the Order of St Michael and St George in 1906 and knighted in 1927. He died in 1940 in Vermont.