Item 0008 - Letter, 25 May 1847

John Waddell was born on March 10, 1810, in Truro, Nova Scotia, son of the Reverend John Waddell (1771-1842).

He was a physician. He was educated at the grammar school in Truro and the Pictou Academy. In 1833, he began to study medicine under Dr. David B. Lynds of Truro. He continued his studies in Glasgow and London, and, in 1839, he received a diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons. After attending scientific lectures in Paris, he began a medical practice in Truro in 1840. In 1849, Dr. Waddell was appointed a medical superintendent of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum of New Brunswick in St John, a position he held until his retirement in 1876. He continually urged the government to spend more on improving the hospital. He visited asylums in Canada and the United States and attempted to introduce the latest methods of treatment. He was aware of the value of occupational therapy and provided opportunities for some of the patients to work with their hands, particularly in the gardens of the asylum.

In 1840, he married Susan Lynds (1811–1841), and in 1846, he remarried Jane Walker Blanchard (1807–1878). He died on August 29, 1878, in Truro, Nova Scotia.