(1864 - 1938)
While now largely forgotten, Sir Andrew Macphail was once one of
Canada's most widely known and respected scholars. Along with
Lucy Maud Montgomery and
Milton Acorn, Macphail is one of the three most famous writers that ever came from
Prince Edward Island.
Macphail was born in Orwell,
Prince Edward Island, and was educated in medicine in PEI and later, at
McGill. He was editor of the McGill University magazine and graduated from
McGill University in 1891. He later became that university's first professor of the
History of Medicine. During his career he published more than 10 books, and founded the
Canadian Medical Association Journal. He served as a doctor on the front lines of
World War I, and was knighted on January 1, 1918. Of his books, the most famous is
The Master's Wife, a memoir of rural 18th century life, published in 1939 after his death.