Frances Gertrude McGill

Frances Gertrude McGill (1877 – January 21, 1959) was a Canadian forensic pathologist and criminologist. She has been referred to as the "Sherlock Holmes of Saskatchewan".^[1]

Biography

She was born in Minnedosa, Manitoba and grew up on the family farm.^[1] She studied at the Winnipeg teacher's college and, for a short time, taught school to pay for her further education. In 1915, she earned a medical degree at the University of Manitoba, receiving the Hutchison Gold Medal awarded for the highest student average.^[2] McGill served her internship at the Winnipeg General Hospital and subsequently attended the provincial laboratory of Manitoba for post-graduate training. In 1918, she was named provincial bacteriologist for the Saskatchewan Health department. In 1920, she became provincial pathologist for Saskatchewan and, in 1922, director for the provincial laboratory, mainly dealing with cases of suspicious death. She served as provincial pathologist until 1942,^[1] but continued working in her field even after retirement.^[3] To deal with the cases assigned to her, McGill travelled throughout the province by car, by snowmobile, by dog sled and by float plane. In a male-dominated occupation, her personal motto was "Think like a man, act like a lady and work like a dog."^[2]

In 1943, she became director of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's forensic laboratory. She also taught officers and detectives on the collection and preservation of evidence, the methods used to study a crime scene, as well as educating them on pathology and toxicology. McGill is considered to be the first woman to serve as an RCMP officer. After she retired in 1946, she was named honorary surgeon and also served as consultant to the RCMP.^[1]

McGill died in Winnipeg at the age of 81.^[2] Lake McGill located in northern Saskatchewan was named in her honour.^[4] She is a member of the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame.^[5]

References