The Vancouver Sun, October 24, 1939.
Dr. H.E. Young, Provincial M.H.O. and "man who built Essondale" dies.
Outstanding medical authority guarded health of B.C. 23 years.
Served as Provincial Secretary in the McBride Cabinet and saw birth of U.B.C.
Victoria, Oct. 24. --- Dr. H.E. Young, 72, provincial health officer, died early today in Royal Jubilee Hospital, to which he was admitted last Friday with a heart ailment.
Monuments of brick and stone, in the University of British Columbia and the modernized Essondale Mental Hospital, and living memorials throughout the widespread health and education services of the province, stand to the memory of Dr. Henry Esson Young, B.A., M.D., C.M., LL.D.
At the age of 36 he stepped from the role of resident physician in the small mining town of Atlin, in northern British Columbia, to the arena of public life, and since 1903 forged for himself a lasting place not only in the realm of social services in this province, but as an international health authority.
Joined gold rush
It was a friendship with Sir Richard McBride that brought about his entry into the field of public welfare.
Born on February 24, 1867, at English River, Quebec, son of a Presbyterian minister, Rev. Alexander Young, he had joined the gold rush to the Atlin district on British Columbia's northern frontier.
He had a brilliant scholastic record, graduating from Queen's University with his B.A. and from McGill with his M.D. and C.M.
He studied at the University of Pennsylvania for a time and took post graduate courses at London University.
At McGill he took honors in natural sciences and was awarded the Logan Medal for proficiency in geology, be admitted later as an associate member of the Mining and Metallurgical Institute of England. He was also a member of the Canadian Mining Institute.
Became Provincial Secretary.
It was his interest in mineralogy that attracted him to the Atlin district. But when the Conservative leader, Mr. McBride, persuaded him to stand as a candidate in British Columbia's first party election in 1903 he was elected and came to Victoria to represent the northern district. After four years as a private member he joined the McBride Ministry as Provincial Secretary and director of the education office when the ministry was reorganized in 1907.
He held the office eight years, resigning when Sir Richard went to England as Agent General.
It was reported he did not wish to accept the leadership of W.J. Bowser, who succeeded Sir Richard.
When U.B.C. was started
It was during his regime that the present University of British Columbia was started and he followed the development of the institution ever since with the keenest interest. When the University conferred upon him an honorary LL.D degree in 1925 it was a crowning point in his efforts. He held similar honorary degrees from both Toronto University and McGill.
The issuance of free textbooks by the education branch was also launched under his direction.
Recognizing the need for more adequate facilities for the mentally ill, for which in those days there was only the New Westminster Hospital, Dr. Young organized and had carried out the efficient Essondale Hospital, which bears his second name.
His administrative work continued when he became secretary of the Board of Health in 1916, afterwards health officer.
Not content with a continual growth of the health services in British Columbia, the medical inspection of children in the schools, inauguration of public health nursing services, establishment of T.B. and V.D. clinics and numerous other branches of the service, he spread the gospel of preventative medicine and organized public health work across the continent.
It was in this campaign he held the chairmanship of and afterwards a life membership in the Canadian Public Health Association was president in 1936 of the State and Provincial Health Authorities of North America, and president of the Western Branch of the American Health Association.
He was an honorary fellow of the American Public Health Association, a member of the National Committee of Mental Hygiene and of the American Child Hygiene Association.
Held many posts
Under his direction came the reorganization in recent years of the T.B. and V.D. clinics in the province, he was on the council for the Combating of Venereal Disease.
He was on the honorary advisory committee of the Connaught Laboratory, honorary vice-president of the St. John Ambulance Association, a fellow of the Royal Society of Tropical diseases, a member of the advisory council of the Dominion Ministry of Health, an honorary fellow of the B.C. Academy of Science and a member of the Board of Governors of the Canadian Welfare Association.
Surviving are the widow at home, one son, Capt. Esson Young of the Empire Stevedoring Co., Vancouver; and three daughters,
Mrs. Dr. Harold Heal, Vancouver; Mrs. A Watts of West Vancouver, and Mary at home.
Private funeral services will be held at the family residence, 1208 Oliver Street, Victoria, on Thursday, followed by cremation, with a brief Masonic service conducted by St. Andrews Lodge, A.F. & A.M., at the Royal Oak Crematorium.
His work "A monument"
In Victoria the following tribute was paid by Hon. G.M. Wier, Provincial Secretary:
"I deeply regret the passing of Dr. Young. His death will leave a gap in the field of public health that will be very difficult to fill. As a leader in this field he had attained not merely provincial, but national, and even international standing.
"With the late Dr. C.J.O. Hastings, formerly medical health officer of Toronto, Dr. Young ranked as the outstanding pioneer and leader in the field of public health in Canada.
"He was a consistent advocate of public health education and stressed the value of preventative work in the control of disease.
"His contribution to the health services of Canada will stand as a monument to his name."
Obituary from the Canadian Medical Journal, December 1939.
Dr. Henry Esson Young, of Victoria, B.C., died on October 24, 1939. One-time minister of education and provincial secretary, Dr. Young was responsible for the organization of the provincial archives and was largely instrumental in the foundation of the Provincial Normal School in Victoria. He had also been closely identified with the fight against cancer, and was among those who brought about the establishment in British Columbia of the Cancer Institute.
Born at English River, Que., Dr. Young was the son of Rev. Alexander Young, a Presbyterian minister, who came to this country from Scotland. His mother was descended from an old Canadian family.
Graduating from Queen's College in arts about the time the Canadian Pacific Railway was being built at Lake Superior, Dr. Young, as a medical student on holiday, spent a short time there railroading. He later went to McGill University for his medical course and took-his degree in 1888. After his graduation he went to London for post-graduate work and “to walk” the hospitals.
A short time after his return to Canada he decided to go to Chicago and St. Louis, where he studied eye, ear, nose and throat work.
At the instance of the late Sir Richard McBride, Dr. Young entered politics, being returned to Parliament in 1903 as Atlin representative, a constituency which he continued to represent throughout his entire parliamentary career. He was made Minister of Education in Sir Richard McBride's government in 1907 and held the office until 1915. In 1916 he was appointed secretary of the Provincial Board of Health which office he capably filled until the time of his death.
Dr. Young held the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of Toronto (1907) and from McGill (1911).
Dr. Young was tireless, ingenious, and wholeheartedly devoted to his work, and over the years he built up a structure which is solid and will endure. He gradually developed an admirable series of health divisions, but his pet project was always public health nursing and the establishment of health units in various districts of the province. He established several of these, and lived to see the great good that they have done in the community.
He had a great deal, too, to do with the foundation in the University of British Columbia of a chair of Nursing and the development of teaching of Bacteriology and Pathology. The new building that is contemplated at this university, to house all these departments, and to enable the extension of teaching in these lines, will be largely a monument to his work. Dr. Young served British Columbia well, and we have lost a man whom it will be hard to replace.
Audio-visual cabinets
Stacks
Stacks
Journals
Probably Crease Clinic patients library
Bookplate
Another bookplate
The library housed the only complete set of the patients newsletter "The Leader" a great resource of information about the site is contained within its pages, good thing that a past librarian had the forethought to preserve it for future generations.
