Physician, missionary, pathologist.
Born at Escanaba, Michigan on 8 April 1888, third son of Bessie and Edgar Williams, he was a young child when his family returned to Canada and settled at Binscarth. After some years, they moved to Sintaluta, Saskatchewan then to Winnipeg. He attended the Manitoba Medical College and graduated with an MD degree in 1916. During the First World War, he served in the Canadian Army Medical Corps.
He was married three times, first to Laura McGirr. After spending 5 or 6 years in China as medical missionaries, his wife fell ill. They returned to Canada and she died shortly afterward. A few years later, he married Kate McKellar and they had four children: Herbert Williams, Charlie Williams, Anne Williams (wife of ? Shepherd), and Eleanor Williams (wife of D. E. Best). The family went to China where his second wife died following surgery. They returned to Canada for a few years, then returned to China where he married for a third time, to nurse Margaret Emily Neil. Finally, they returned to Canada where he was a pathologist at the Deer Lodge Military Hospital and was in charge of the Department of Oriental Diseases.
He retired to Victoria, British Columbia where he died on 31 January 1965. He was buried in the Elmwood Cemetery.
“All the way from China,” Winnipeg Free Press, 21 July 1942.
Death registration [Thomas Henry Williams], British Columbia Vital Statistics.
This page was prepared by Evelyn Ward and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 14 February 2026
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