Elizabeth Smellie

Elizabeth Lawrie Smellie, (March 22, 1884 – March 5, 1968) was a Canadian nurse and the first woman to be promoted to the rank of colonel in the Canadian Army.

Thunder Bay connections

Elizabeth Lawrie Smellie was born in Port Arthur on March 22, 1884, the daughter of Thomas Smellie, Conservative Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for Fort William and Lake of the Woods from 1905 to 1911, and Janet Eleanor Lawrie. Known to family and friends as "Beth", she became night supervisor at McKellar General Hospital in 1901. She died in Toronto in 1968 and is buried in Riverside Cemetery, Thunder Bay. A historical marker to Smellie stands in Waverley Park, Thunder Bay.

Elizabeth Smellie was born into an upper middle-class family of Scottish (specifically Orkneyan) descent. Her father, Dr. Thomas S.T. Smellie (1849–1925), was chief surgeon for the Canadian Pacific Railway in Port Arthur, Ontario, during construction work between White River and Port Arthur. He was also a physician and became a member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament in 1905. Her mother, Janet Eleanor Lawrie (deceased 1933), was active in the Fort William community.

This is a stub article adapted from the intro of the corresponding Wikipedia article, whose full text covers the subject in greater detail. Content is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

Newspaper record

• Biographical notice in Fort William Daily Times-Journal, 1934-01-03.
  • Index note: Honored by king.
• Biographical notice in Fort William Daily Times-Journal, 1942-11-07.
  • Military rank: Lt.-Col.
  • Index note: Outstanding Canadian.
• Photo notice in Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 1943-09-15.
  • Military rank: Lt.-Col.
  • Index note: Here on visit.
• Biographical notice in Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 1944-03-11.
  • Military rank: Lt.-Col.
  • Index note: Promoted to full Colonel.
• Retirement notice in Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 1944-03-16.
  • Military rank: Col.
  • Index note: From RCAMC/Back to V.O.N.
• Biographical notice in Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 1944-06-22.
  • Military rank: Col.
  • Index note: Honored in Ottawa/Here.
• Biographical notice in Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 1944-06-24.
  • Military rank: Col.
  • Index note: Honoured by PA Legion.
• Biographical notice in Fort William Daily Times-Journal, 1945-01-27.
  • Military rank: Col.
  • Index note: Work receives high tribute.
• Biographical notice in Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 1946-04-27.
  • Index note: Sees future for Victorian Order.
• Biographical notice in Fort William Daily Times-Journal, 1947-01-06.
  • Index note: Resigns V.O.N. office.
• Retirement notice in Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 1947-01-06.
  • Index note: Resigns as Sup't from V.O.N.
• Biographical notice in Fort William Daily Times-Journal, 1947-01-10.
  • Index note: Lakehead still home.
• Biographical notice in Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 1947-01-10.
  • Index note: Love of nursing outshines honors.
• Biographical notice in Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 1947-01-11.
  • Index note: Civic presentation.
• Biographical notice in Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 1947-01-13.
  • Index note: Editorial about her.
• Biographical notice in Fort William Daily Times-Journal, 1947-05-01.
  • Index note: Farewell gifts.
• Retirement notice in Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 1947-05-01.
  • Index note: Many V.O.N. gifts honor her.
• Retirement notice in Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 1947-05-31.
  • Recorded as occurring 2 June 1947.
  • Index note: Leaves V.O.N. on Monday.
• Photo notice in Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 1949-07-20.
  • Military rank: Col.
  • Index note: Visitor here.
• Biographical notice in Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 1949-08-31.
  • Recorded as occurring 30 August 1949.
  • Military rank: Col.
  • Index note: Addresses PAGH nursing grads.
• Photo notice in Fort William Daily Times-Journal, 1954-06-18.
  • Index note: McKellar nursing marks 50th.

In Papers and Records (1975)

The 1975 article by Mary R. MacLean records that she was born on 22 March 1884 in the family home on Pearl Street near Court, the second of four daughters, that the family was in Fort William by the early 1890s, and that she graduated as a nurse from Johns Hopkins in 1909 and then briefly served as night supervisor at McKellar General Hospital. She became first woman colonel in the Canadian army, chief superintendent of the Victorian Order of Nurses from 1924, and was honorary colonel of the Lake Superior Regiment. She died on 5 March 1968 and is buried in Riverside Cemetery. Her father reportedly challenged her with the words and you call yourself a Smellie when she froze at a childhood concert, a story told by W. Russell Brown.