Memorable Manitobans: Frederick Wilbur Jackson (1888-1958)

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Frederick Wilbur Jackson
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Physician, civil servant.

Born at Stonewall on 25 October 1888, son of Ida Isabella Clark and Samuel J. Jackson, he was educated at Stonewall School, A. J. Tuckwell’s Private School in Winnipeg, the University of Manitoba (MD, 1912), and the University of Toronto (Diploma in Public Health, 1929). From 1912 to 1927, he ran a private practice in Wawanesa and became medical health officer for the Town of Wawanesa as well as the Rural Municipalities of Oakland and Riverside. In September 1915, he enlisted with the CAMC of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He later served with the 79th Battalion, Brandon, April 1916 and was stationed with the No. 5 Canadian General Hospital at Salonica, Greece, and England.

After his military discharge in March 1918 as Captain and leaving his private medical practice, he directed a health survey for the Manitoba provincial government, in 1928. The following year he was appointed director of the division devoted to the prevention of disease with the provincial health department. In 1931, he was made Deputy Minister of Health and Public Welfare. He went to work for the federal government in 1948 becoming Director of Health Services and later Director of Health Insurance Studies (1954-1956). During his long career, he also served as part-time secretary for the Manitoba Medical Association (1929-1937) and was a professor of preventative medicine at the University of Manitoba. In 1943, he was named Chairman of a Royal Commission that investigated the health and welfare of Japanese people interned at British Columbia.

Once President of the Canadian Public Health Association, he was affiliated with many professional organizations at the international, national, provincial, and local level. He was a member of the subcommittee on medical care of the committee on administrative practice as well as a member of the first expert advisory panel on public health administration. He also belonged to the World Health Organization, American Public Health Association, Manitoba Medical Association, Manitoba Sanitary Control Commission, Winnipeg Medical Society, and the Wawanesa Returned Soldiers Association. He was Vice-President of the Central Council of Social Agencies for Greater Winnipeg and also a member of the Young Men’s section of the Winnipeg Board of Trade. He also served in several capacities in the post-graduate committee of the faculty of medicine at the University of Manitoba, board of examiners of the Medical Council of Canada, Dominion Council of Health, and the Manitoba Advisory Committee to the Canadian Medical Procurement and Assignment Board (1942-1945).

He was recognized for his contribution to public health by a number of bodies. In 1956, he was the first Canadian to receive the Sedgwick Memorial Medal at a ceremony in Atlantic City, New Jersey for “outstanding service in the field of public health.” He was also a recipient of the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal and the King George VI Coronation Medal for meritorious civil service. The Professional Institute of the Civil Service of Canada awarded him a gold medal in 1950 for “the most outstanding contribution to national or world well-being.” In 1940, he was one of four Canadian physicians chosen to receive an honorary life membership in the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. He was also an honorary life member of the Conference of State and Provincial Health Officers.

He was married twice, first on 10 September 1913 to Sarah Irene Tuckwell (1892-?), daughter of Alfred John Tuckwell, at Winnipeg. They had three children before their divorce: Wilbur S. Jackson (?-?), Clayton Alfred Jackson (1919-1990), and Jocelyn Mary Jackson (1921-?, wife of John Arthur Cowan). On 13 April 1933, he married Pearl Jean Cranston (?-?) at Ninette. A member of the AF & AM and IOOF, he enjoyed playing golf and curling.

He died at his Winnipeg home, 210 Montgomery Avenue, on 10 January 1958. He is commemorated by Jackson Avenue in Winnipeg.

Sources:

Birth and marriage registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Birth registrations [Clayton Alfred Jackson, Jocelyn Mary Jackson], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“Society,” Winnipeg Tribune, 23 August 1913, page 7.

1921 Canada census, Ancestry.

Pioneers and Prominent People of Manitoba, Winnipeg: Canadian Publicity Company, 1925.

“Foster – Jackson,” Winnipeg Free Press, 27 February 1932, page 33.

“Jackson – Cranston,” Winnipeg Tribune, 19 April 1933, page 9.

“Cowan – Jackson marriage ceremony held at Wawanesa,” Winnipeg Free Press, 8 August 1946, page 10.

“Manitoba health official joining federal staff,” Winnipeg Free Press, 30 December 1949. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B10, page 128].

“Health plan expert, Dr. F. W. Jackson dies,” Winnipeg Free Press, 10 January 1958, page 11.

We thank Hope Smith for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Sarah Ramsden and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 5 November 2023

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

This is a collection of noteworthy Manitobans from the past, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. We acknowledge that the collection contains both reputable and disreputable people. All are worth remembering as a lesson to future generations.

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