The Labrador Memoir of Dr. Harry Paddon, 1912-1938 (review)

Although the accomplishments of Dr Wilfred Grenfell have been well documented, Grenfell's colleague Dr Harry Paddon deserves equal credit for his pioneering efforts in medicine, education, and social service. Paddon worked as a medical missionary for the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen and later the International Grenfell Association. Between 1912 and his unexpected death in 1939 he served as Grenfell's chief physician in Labrador. In this position Paddon operated from cottage hospitals, made house calls by boat and dog team, and raised mission funds abroad. His promotion of healthy living, self-sufficiency, and community development certainly benefited the region he served. Paddon's success may not have been possible without the assistance of his wife Mina Gilchrist, who joined the mission as a nurse prior to their marriage. Although Paddon often reproached Labrador's inhabitants for what he perceived as laziness and ignorance, he and his wife worked tirelessly to improve the lives of adults and children, trappers and fishers, as well as Aboriginal and non-Native inhabitants.

The Labrador Memoir of Dr. Harry Paddon provides readers with the events of Paddon's life, his love for the region, and his mission labours. As a research professor in the Department of English at Memorial University and a specialist on the Grenfell Mission, Rompkey is well qualified to bring Paddon's forgotten memoir to light. Although the work provides insight into early twentieth-century medical history, it also details the social, cultural, and economic history of pre-Confederation Labrador.

In 1938 Paddon reconstructed publications from mission periodicals and family correspondence from the United Kingdom to write his memoir. In doing so he hoped to achieve three ends. First, to portray the excitement, sadness, and humour of 'frontier medical practice.' Second, to capture a disappearing Labrador 'before the relentless advance of Big Industry.' And third, to offset the 'superficial witticisms or pessimisms so freely applied to Labrador in print' (3-4). Paddon's heart-rending accounts of malnutrition, disease, and poverty contrast sharply with his romantic and sometimes humorous descriptions of the region and its people. Significantly, this work is not an autobiography. As Rompkey explains, the subject of the memoir is Labrador, where Paddon 'represents himself as an agent of change in a territory disparaged by observers and ignored by successive Newfoundland governments' (xliii). Paddon emerges as a dedicated physician and early nationalist who worried that industrial capitalism would soon transform the population's way of life, rob the area of its resources, and condemn his mission to redundancy.

Paddon divides his memoir into three sections. Part One covers the first two years of his work in Labrador where he operated from a cottage hospital in Indian Harbour, travelled throughout the region providing medical treatment, and surveyed public health conditions. Part Two describes Paddon's establishment of a permanent station at North West River, which included a cottage hospital, industrial school, model home, and agricultural enterprise. Part Three reflects on his mission's progress and the future of Labrador.

Although Rompkey's introduction lacks a detailed explanation of the Grenfell Mission, Rompkey's work is commendable. His introduction discusses the doctor's family and career, the public health conditions of Labrador, and Paddon's original manuscript. Rompkey also adds 245 endnotes, a useful bibliography and index, as well as maps and photographs to help visualize the narrative. To provide these important elements Rompkey conducted research in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, while corresponding with family members still living in North West River.

The Labrador Memoir is a valuable addition to literature on the Grenfell Mission. In fact, when combined with the autobiography of Paddon's son and successor, Dr W.A. Paddon, the history of the Labrador mission is revealed for much of the twentieth century. While the memoir provides insight into Paddon's battles with tuberculosis, Spanish influenza, beri-beri, scurvy, and rickets, it also offers...