Physician, surgeon, educator.
Born at North Wakefield, Quebec on 28 July 1880, third of eight children born to John Reavie MacKinnon (1844-1912) and Abigail Pritchard (1850-1942), he came with his family to Manitoba in 1883. He attended Griswold School and graduated from the Portage Collegiate Institute and Central Normal School, after which he returned to Portage la Prairie as Principal of Central School (c1901-?) for several years. He then enrolled in the Manitoba Medical College of the University of Manitoba, graduating in 1907, and opened a medical practice in Portage la Prairie until his work was interrupted by the First World War. In March 1916, he enlisted and joined the 11th Field Ambulance of the Canadian Army Medical Corps, seeing service along the front lines of Europe before transferring to England, where he worked at the Kings Canadian Red Cross Special Hospital and the CAMC Casualty Company.
Following military discharge in June 1919, he worked as an orthopedic surgeon at the Fort Osborne Military Hospital and was posted to Ninette Sanatorium for several months. In January 1920, joined the medical partnership of Herbert P. H. Galloway and Alexander “Alex” Gibson (operating as the Galloway-Gibson Clinic), and later taking over his practice as the MacKinnon Orthopedic Clinic. He was President of Orthopedic staff at St. Boniface Hospital, bone and joint surgery consultant at St. Vital Sanatorium and Ninette Sanatorium, and a clinical lecturer at the University of Manitoba. He was President of the Winnipeg Medical Society (?-?) and a member of the IOOF and Knights of Pythias. On 17 June 1908, he married Isabel Thornton Thomson (1881-1940) at Portage la Prairie and had two sons; James Russell MacKinnon (1918-?) and Neil Thomson MacKinnon.
He died at his Winnipeg residence, 986 Dorchester Avenue, on 14 June 1945 and was buried in the Portage Hillside Cemetery.
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Winnipeg Orthopaedic Clinic / MacKinnon Orthopaedic Clinic / Howell Court (661 Broadway, Winnipeg)
Birth, marriage, and death registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Attestation papers, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Library and Archives Canada.
“Degrees [Medicine],” Winnipeg Tribune, 10 May 1907, page 10.
“Illness of J. R. McKinnon,” Winnipeg Tribune, 3 August 1912, page 8.
“Another pioneer passes beyond,” Winnipeg Tribune, 16 August 1912, page 1.
“H. P. Galloway, noted surgeon, dies at 73,” Winnipeg Tribune, 13 July 1939, page 3.
“Mrs. MacKinnon dies suddenly,” Winnipeg Tribune, 22 July 1940, page 17.
“News of social activities [photo caption],” Winnipeg Tribune, 13 May 1941, page 10.
“Dr. MacKinnon, prominent city surgeon, dies,” Winnipeg Tribune, 15 June 1945, page 2.
“Dr. MacKinnon, surgeon, dies,” Winnipeg Free Press, 15 June 1945, page 4.
“Doctor’s Will leaves $46,700,” Winnipeg Tribune, 24 July 1945, page 3.
Hillside Cemetery [Portage] burial transcriptions, FindAGrave.
The Story of Manitoba by F. H. Schofield, Winnipeg: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1913.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 20 January 2020
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