Memorable Manitobans: Wesley Wright Pirt (1881-1931)

Physician.

Born at Nelson, Manitoba on 19 April 1881, one of thirteen children of Martin Pirt and Susan Henderson, he was educated at the Morden public school, Morden high school, then taught school for two years. He then took medical training from the Manitoba Medical College. He was operating a pharmacy at Griswold, Manitoba in October 1911 when his physician brother, William Martin Pirt (1870-1911), was killed in an automobile accident west of Carman. Wesley Pirt then moved to Carman and took over his brother’s medical practice.

In 1915, during the First World War, he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force and served for a year as a physician with Imperial forces at London, England. He then transferred to the Canadian Medical Corps in France, and was appointed officer in charge of the Canadian X-Ray Hospital at Ramsgate, England. Upon his return from overseas, he was appointed medical superintendent of the military hospital at Tuxedo on the outskirts of Winnipeg. In 1918 he relinquished this post to become medical examiner to the local board of pension commissioners.

On 7 June 1910, he married Jane Rodgers (?-1963) at Winnipeg. They had no children. While living in Carman, he served as medical officer for the Rural Municipality of Dufferin, and was a member of the Independent Order of Foresters. He died of a heart attack at his Winnipeg home, 227 Waverley Street, on 17 December 1931. He was buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

Sources:

Marriage registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

The Story of Manitoba by F. H. Schofield, Winnipeg: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1913.

“Doctor killed”, Manitoba Free Press, 1 November 1911, page 1.

Attestation Papers, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Library and Archives Canada.

“Dr. W. W. Pirt, well known physician, dies”, Winnipeg Free Press, 18 December 1931, page 1.

“Burial of Dr. W. W. Pirt takes place at Elmwood”, Winnipeg Free Press, 22 December 1931, page 4.

Obituary for Jane (Jean) Pirt, Winnipeg Free Press, 9 August 1963, page 20.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 26 April 2010

Memorable Manitobans

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