Person:Hugh MacLean (1)

Early Life

Hugh MacLean was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the third of five sons born to Archibald McLean and Margaret Nairn. In 1887 the family emigrated from Scotland to Ontario, Canada. The settled in Marthaville, in Lambton County, Ontario, where his father was a market gardener and also managed a farm. During his teens, Hugh worked as the caretaker of the Methodist church there. His high school studies were completed in Fort William, Ontario, where his older brother Donald was working for the railroad.

Training

After completion of high school, Hugh worked as a labourer in Manitoba for a year. He then took a three month teacher training course, and spent 1901 and 1902 teaching in Dunrea, Manitoba for a $320 a year salary. During the two years he spent as a teacher he boarded with the local doctor. This influenced his decision to pursue medical studies at the University of Toronto. He graduated in 1906.

Prairie Doctor

He worked briefly at the Gravenhurst Sanitarium, before starting practice in Lang, Saskatchewan. In 1907, he married Susan Weir, the daughter of the Methodist minister in Marthaville and a public school teacher. The family had three daughters. After several years of rural practice he sought further training in Chicago and New York, returning in 1913 to establish a surgical practice in Regina.

Political Involvement

Hugh's father Archibald was active in the Liberal party in Marthaville. In Lang, where Hugh MacLean served on the school board, he was president of the Liberal Association for that constituency, although he declined the nomination to run for election. After his move to Regina - where he also served on the school board - Hugh became active with the Liberal executive, but became disillusioned with the party. Aware of the depth of poverty and neglected health amongst many in the province, he was dedicated to pursuing free education and medical care. The Liberals attempted to encourage him to run under their ticket several times but he refused.

The CCF

Although he was interested in the Canadian Commonwealth Federation, Canada's socialist labour party, since its formation in 1933, Hugh wasn't active until after his experience tending to protesters during the Regina riots of 1935. That same year he ran for election under the CCF banner. According to a letter of his brother Donald, "Hugh ran on a CCF ticket in Regina and was defeated. Premier Gardiner wanted him to run as a Liberal in the Provincial elections but he decided to stay with the CCF with above result." He never ran for office again.

His Role in the Adoption of Public Health Care in Canada

Throughout this time, MacLean advocated for public health care, in letters to the editor, speeches and a radio broadcast. He attempted to work with municipalities to fund the treatments for their citizens, often accepting much reduced fees. He financially assisted some medical students who were having difficulty completing their studies. He was a confident of Tommy Douglas, leader of the CCF, and his medical advisor. When the CCF were elected to lead the province in 1944, MacLean advised Douglas to take on the health portfolio himself. Many of the prominent members of the CCF, including Douglas, consulted MacLean for personal medical advice, traveling to California, where MacLean moved in 1938, for treatment. Douglas, recuperating in California for two weeks after becoming ill, spent his time there played Chinese checkers with Hugh's wife, and took to calling them "Dr. Hugh" and "Aunt Susan".

In her academic essay The Guru and the Godfather: Henry Sigerist, Hugh MacLean and the Politics of Health Care Reform in 1940s Canada (from which much of the biographical information here has been taken), Jacalyn Duffin argues that although he is largely unknown, Hugh MacLean was an important influence as both an advocate for public health care and as an advisor to the leaders in Saskatchewan who first established it within Canada.

California

After practicing for 30 years, Hugh intended to retire from practice in 1938. He was then in ill health, due to a complicated removal of his gall bladdder a couple years earlier, and exhaustion from his political efforts. He moved to California, where his brother John, also a surgeon, was. Writes Donald McLean at Christmas 1938, "John wants me to go to California for the winter. Hugh is down there now nearly a year, and likes it fine. He left Regina with the intention of living a retired life, he changed his mind, bought a fine home and opened an office and is getting along well." In California, he may have been pressed into service due to needs during the war. He built connections there with doctors interested in public health care and by 1941 was chief of surgery at a local hospital. He returned often to Regina, and stayed active politically. His three daughters remained in Canada. Writes Donald in 1941, "We visited with Hugh’s three daughters. They are all married and have families, two of their husbands are in the Army, Marion’s doing Plastic Surgery in England & Margaret’s is in the Air Force. He is in Calgary. Isabel’s husband is a Jeweller in Regina."

In 1947, he retired again. "My Brother Hugh quit practicing Medicine last Xmas and on Feb 12th he and his wife flew to New Zealand then to Australia and back up to Regina then back to Los Angeles. They were away nearly four months and enjoyed their trip very much," writes Donald. Hugh remained in the United States for the rest of his life, and was active in social programs there. In 1953, the radio show This is Your Life highlighted his contributions to the Los Angeles YMCA.

Awards and Associations

In 1935, Hugh MacLean was awarded the King George V medal for distinguished public service. He served on the Board of Governors for the American College of Surgeons, and contributed to the reorganization of the Canadian Medical Association. In 1926, he was the Canadian representative for a tour of European post-graduate programs. He was a Mason. In 1924, it was written in the book Saskatchewan and Its Peoples that he farmed as a hobby, and owned a couple farms near Regina.

1.   Canada. 1911 Census of Canada. (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada).

   2 daughters in household, birthdate given as July 1878

   1911 Census image (pdf)

2.   Hawkes, John. Saskatchewan and its People Vol II & III. (Chicago - Regina: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1924).
3.   Duffin, Jacalyn The Guru and the Godfather: Henry Sigerist, Hugh MacLean and the Politics of Health Care Reform in 1940s Canada.