Elizabeth Bagshaw

Elizabeth Bagshaw was born on October 19, 1881 in Cannington, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of a farmer and his wife. She attended the Ontario Medical College for Women, where she graduated with a medical degree in 1905. She then moved to Hamilton, Ontario, where she set up her own practice and became one of the first female physicians in Canada. She specialized in family medicine and obstetrics, and delivered thousands of babies in her 70-year career. She also worked as a lecturer at the Hamilton Normal School and the Hamilton Technical School, where she taught hygiene and health education to young women. She was a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and a supporter of women's suffrage. She also served as the president of the Hamilton Council of Women and the Hamilton Medical Society. In 1932, she became the medical director of the Hamilton Birth Control Clinic, the first of its kind in Canada. She provided women with reliable and affordable contraceptives, despite the legal and social opposition she faced. She continued to work at the clinic until 1966, when she retired at the age of 85. She received many honours and awards for her work, including the Order of Canada in 1972, the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case in 1979, and the induction into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2007. She died on January 5, 1982 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, at the age of 100. She is remembered as a pioneer of women's medicine and a champion of women's rights in Canada.