Botterell, Edmund Harry (1906-1997)

Edmund Harry Botterell was born in Vancouver, British Columbia on February 28, 1906. He was educated at Ridley College and the University of Manitoba. He received many honours, one being the Order of the British Empire from His Majesty the King, received for meritorious services during World War II.

From 1936-1939, Dr. Botterell was a lecturer in Neurophysiology at the University of Toronto and Attending Surgeon of Neurosurgery at the Toronto General Hospital. He established Lyndhurst Lodge for the care of paraplegics with the aid of Dr. Albin T. Jousse.

In 1953 he became Head of Neurosurgery at Toronto General Hospital and held this post until 1962 when he accepted the position of Dean of Medicine at Queen's, which he held until 1970. He was also the Vice Principal of Health Sciences from 1968-1971.

During his career, Dr. Botterell pioneered many innovative developments in neurosurgery, including the use of hypothermia in brain surgery. He was also a well-known spokesman for the importance of universal public health care.

The 1960s proved a springboard decade for health services in Canada. The nation’s commitment to "single-payer" national health care combined with exponential advances, like the understanding of DNA, radically changed the way Canadians approached their health care. Amid this change, Queen’s almost missed the shift.

Despite dating back to 1854, Queen’s medical school was one of the smallest of Canada’s 12 schools. The school relied on nearby hospitals for clinical training, but Kingston’s small population made it difficult to get comprehensive experience. With only 330 students spread over its entire program, the School of Medicine lived a precarious existence. Dean Harold Ettinger bemoaned his faculty’s “lack of money, good will and mutual trust.” In 1961, consultants reported that the school was failing to provide “modern concepts of medical education.”

Queen’s new principal, Alex Corry, was determined to modernize Queen’s, and he asked Edmund Harry Botterell to help.

A world-renowned neurologist, Dr. Botterell had a resume that included Johns Hopkins, London, a wartime stint in England tending to brain-damaged soldiers, and a current posting at the University of Toronto. Principal Corry was candid with Dr. Botterell; he would have the principal’s unquestioning support in his campaign to turn Queen’s medicine around, but there must be a turnaround.

Dr. Botterell arrived on January 1, 1962. He signed his memos “Harry the Horse” and demanded action yesterday.

Results came quickly and impressively, such as the launch of new specialties, family medicine and the School of Rehabilitation Therapy in 1967. Dean Botterell also pushed nursing at Queen’s away from its old reliance on on-the-job training toward academic breadth and certification; in 1967, nursing became a fully-fledged faculty with the appointment of Jean Hill as dean.

Under Dean Botterell, the university struck agreements with Kingston General and Hotel Dieu hospitals for the provision of “clinical teaching units” that allowed medical students regular access to the wards where patients were treated.

Dr. Botterell stepped down as dean in 1968 but continued as vice-principal of health sciences until 1971. By then, the faculty was receiving glowing accreditation reviews and enrolment reflected a newfound prestige.

Dr. Botterell’s parting initiative was to begin agitation for a health sciences complex on campus, one that could bring together all medical education and service at Queen’s in one, multi-floored building. The quaint, crammed Medical Quadrangle would no longer suffice. Fiscal austerity would impede the completion of the complex until late in the decade, but when it was done, Queen’s named the towering building Botterell Hall.

Harry Botterell died in 1997.