Physician, psychiatrist, civil servant.
Born at Heart’s Content, Newfoundland on 6 February 1894, the youngest of nine children of Rev. James Pincock and Margaret Pincock, brother of James Clayton Pincock, he lived in Newfoundland until coming to Winnipeg in 1913. He attended the Manitoba Medical College and, in February 1916, he interrupted his education to enlist in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and serve with the 11th Field Ambulance.
Returning from military service, he completed his medical training then spent nearly two years with Alvin Trotter Mathers on the staff of the Manitoba Psychopathic Hospital. He then worked as a doctor in China under the auspices of the Methodist Church before returning to Winnipeg in 1927.
In 1928, he was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister of Health and Public Welfare. He left the position in 1930 to become the Medical Superintendent of the Manitoba Hospital for Mental Diseases at Brandon, serving until 1942 when he became Provincial Psychiatrist. During this time, he is credited with starting Alcoholics Anonymous in Manitoba. He retired from the civil service in 1959 and, in 1968, he became Medical Director and Psychiatric Consultant to the Alcohol Foundation of Manitoba.
He died at Winnipeg on 24 May 1978 and was buried in the Brookside Cemetery.
Attestation papers, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Library and Archives Canada.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 25 May 1978, page 53.
“When Love and Skill Work Together:” Work, Skill and the Occupational Culture of Mental Nurses at the Brandon Hospital for Mental Diseases, 1919-1946 by Christopher Patrick Alan Dooley, MA Thesis, University of Manitoba, 1998.
We thank Ron Leslie for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 19 November 2024
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