Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell (1865–1940), a British missionary to Labrador and Newfoundland, was one of the most visionary medical missionaries in history.This year is the 150th anniversary of his birth.
Born Feb. 28, 1865, at Parkgate, England, he was the son of Algernon Sidney Grenfell and Jane Georgiana Hutchinson.
He was educated at Marlborough College in Oxford and London Hospital Medical College (now the University of London). He received a medical license from the Royal College of Physicians and membership in the Royal College of Surgeons in 1888.
Moved by a simple message
In 1887 during his second year of medical training, Grenfell attended a tent meeting where he heard evangelist Dwight L. Moody preach. He was moved by Moody’s simple message for living the Christian life. When the call came to “stand up” for Christ, he committed his life to practical service for others.
That same year he joined the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen, working as a medical missionary on a hospital ship traveling from Iceland to the Bay of Biscay. In 1892 he was transferred to Labrador and dedicated the remainder of his life to the people of Labrador and Newfoundland.
In 1893 the Labrador Medical Mission opened its first hospital in Battle Harbour, Labrador. Until then hospitals were nonexistent in Labrador and no resident doctor practiced there.
Grenfell, who helped open the hospital, worked as a doctor meeting the needs of not only citizens of Labrador and Newfoundland but also migratory fishermen.
He recruited doctors, nurses and volunteers to help his mission. He also spent much of his time raising funds and support.
The mission grew and in 1899 it acquired the large medical vessel Strathcona. The ship was one of the world’s first to carry X-ray equipment. Grenfell cruised annually along the northern Newfoundland and Labrador coasts in his hospital ship. In 1901 a hospital was established in St. Anthony, Newfoundland. In 1912, Grenfell opened King George V Seamen’s Institute in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
By 1914, Grenfell’s mission had gained global status. He founded the International Grenfell Association, a nonprofit mission society, to support his work.
Grenfell had a vision not only to meet medical needs but to promote social, educational, agricultural and industrial development. By his retirement in 1932 he had started six hospitals, four hospital ships and seven nursing stations. He also founded two orphanages, two schools, 14 industrial centers, a cooperative lumber mill, three agricultural stations and 12 clothing distribution stations.
After his retirement he devoted his time to raising funds for the International Grenfell Association.
He received numerous honors throughout his life. They included an honorary doctor of medicine degree from the University of Oxford in 1907 (the first ever granted) and the Murchison Award from the Royal Geographical Society in 1911 for his charts of Labrador. He was knighted in 1927 for his medical, educational and social work.
He died of a coronary thrombosis in Charlotte, Vt., on Oct. 9, 1940. He was survived by his wife and three children. His ashes were placed inside a rock face at St. Anthony overlooking the harbor.
His legacy continues today through the Grenfell Historical Society which continues to operate a museum, interpretation center and archives at the former Grenfell home in St. Anthony.
“The purpose of this world,” Grenfell once wrote, “is not to have and hold, but to serve.”
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