A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time. Various
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John, M.D.—This distinguished medical man, who successfully practised his profession in Montreal for over thirty years, was born on the 31st of March, 1822, at Athlone, county of Roscommon, Ireland, and died on the 23rd of January, 1884. In accordance with the custom of that day, he was apprenticed to a local surgeon in the year 1839, and remained with him until 1842. In April, 1847, he appeared before the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, and received their license in April of that year. Owing to some demands which he considered unreasonable, he would not go up for the degree in Dublin, but preferred crossing to Glasgow, at which university he received the degree of M.D. in 1848. It was now the intention of Dr. Reddy to enter upon the career of an army surgeon, and he was actually gazetted to a commission in the line. His regiment was just at this time, however, ordered to the Gold Coast for service; and the young surgeon believing that he had not been born only to fill a premature grave in that most unhealthy station, at once resigned. He then for a short time held some dispensary appointments in Ireland, and came to Canada in 1851. Through the influence of some friends in Montreal he had been appointed house surgeon of the Montreal General Hospital, and immediately entered upon the duties of that office. He remained in the hospital for three years, fulfilling the responsibilities of this position to the great satisfaction of the then medical officers, Drs. Crawford, Arnoldi, Jones, and others, and on leaving the hospital, he began private practice in the city. The year 1854 will be remembered as the last during which a severe epidemic of Asiatic cholera swept over this country. Dr. Reddy at once devoted himself with unremitting attention to the care of the many sufferers who were falling on every hand. His unvarying kindness to his patients, his cheerful, warm-hearted Irish manners, his already considerable skill and experience soon led to his finding himself surrounded by a large and daily increasing clientèle. During Dr. Reddy’s thirty years’ practice of his profession in Montreal, his perseverance and assiduity knew no rest; he was constantly and busily employed from morning till night, and very often from night till morning, until 1883, when to the regret of his many friends, it was observed that his health was beginning to fail. He went to Europe for change of air, and the much needed rest, but unfortunately no return to health was to come to him, and he died in Dublin on the 23rd of January, 1884. Dr. Reddy held many offices of the highest trust and honour in this community. In 1856 he was appointed one of the attending physicians of the Montreal General Hospital, which post he held until he retired upon the consulting board. In 1856 he received the degree of M.D. ad eundem from McGill College, and for many years served as representative fellow in medicine in the corporation of that university. He was a constant attendant at the meetings of the Medico-Chirurgical Society and was elected president, and he was a long-service officer in the volunteer militia, having been surgeon of the Montreal Garrison Artillery. His was a quiet, unostentatious, busy, blameless life. His high moral character and strict professional integrity, his broad benevolence and universal goodness of heart, with kind and obliging manners, procured for Dr. Reddy the respect and esteem of all his professional friends and confrères, his numerous patients, and the general community. His memory will long be cherished and his character and good deeds held in warm remembrance. He was married on the 1st July, 1851, to Jane Fleming, daughter of William Fleming, of Cloondra, county Longford, Ireland, and when he died he left six children, three sons and three daughters, the eldest of whom, H. L. Reddy, B.A., M.D.C.M., L.R.C.P., London; L.S.A., London; L.R.C.S., Edinburgh; professor of obstetrics in the medical faculty, Bishop’s College University, physician accoucheur to the Western Hospital, Montreal, succeeds him in his practice. His second son, William B. S. Reddy, B.C.L., is a notary public practising in Montreal.
Harris, Christopher Prince, Merchant, Moncton, New Brunswick, was born at Moncton, county of Westmoreland, New Brunswick, on the 29th of May, 1837. He is the third son of Michael Spurr Harris and Sarah Ann Troop. Mr. Harris, jr., received his education in his native town, and for the past thirty years has been a member of the firm of J. & C. Harris, general merchants. In 1877 he took an active part with his brother and partner, J. L. Harris, and others, in organizing the Moncton Gaslight and Water Company, and also in the construction of the works. He has held the position of a director and also treasurer of the company until the present time. In 1880 he took a similar part in the organization and erection of the works of the Moncton Sugar Refining Company, and has been its treasurer ever since. In 1882 he helped to promote the Moncton Cotton Manufacturing Company, and the construction of its works, and is now one of its leading directors. Although a busy mercantile man, he has found time to devote some of his leisure to Masonry, and has been connected with the order for over twenty-one years. He is a past-master and honorary member of Keith lodge; past-principal Z of Botsford Royal Arch Chapter; a member of the Union De Molay Commandery, of St. John, New Brunswick, and also of other Masonic orders. In religion Mr. Harris is an adherent of the Reformed Episcopal church; and in politics a Liberal-Conservative. He was married on the 8th of October, 1867, to Mary Landon Cowling, eldest daughter of Eben Landon Cowling, justice of the peace. Mr. Harris is a live business man, and has a bright future before him.
Beckwith, Adolphus George, Civil Engineer, Fredericton, New Brunswick, was born at Fredericton, on December 28th, 1839. His parents were the late Hon. John A. Beckwith, M.L.C., and Maria A. Beckwith. (See sketch life of Hon. Mr. Beckwith, in another part of this volume.) Mr. Beckwith was educated at the Collegiate School, Fredericton, and took a partial course at King’s College (now University of New Brunswick), where he studied civil engineering, and received his diploma from Professor Thomas Cregan. He joined the volunteers as a private on their first formation in Fredericton, in 1858, was gazetted ensign in 1st York Battalion, under Lieut.-Colonel Minchin, in 1861, was lieutenant in 1863, and captain in 1867. He was appointed adjutant of the 71st York Battalion in 1867, and held that position, with the rank of major, from July, 1876, until the retirement of Capt. J. W. Smith, paymaster, in 1881, when he exchanged to the position of paymaster, which he now holds. He holds first and second class certificates from the School of Instruction. Mr. Beckwith is a deputy surveyor of Crown Lands, and was draughtsman in the Crown Lands office from 1866 to 1871, when he was appointed engineer of Public Works, which position he now holds. He performed the duties of Provincial government engineer for two or three years, in addition to his other works. Is at present City engineer of Fredericton. He joined the Free Masons in 1861, in Solomon’s lodge, No. 764, E.R., was master of the lodge in 1865, and secretary of the same, and Hiram lodge, No. 6, N.B.R., for ten years, and on retiring from that office, was presented with a handsome piece of plate by the members. He is also a frater of the encampment of Knights Templar of St. John; a past grand senior deacon of the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick, A. F. & A. M. Mr. Beckwith has travelled throughout Canada, the United States and Europe. He is a member of the Church of England. He was married at Brooklyn (New York), in 1865, to Mary Elizabeth, daughter of the late M. B. Marckwald, a merchant of New York. He has only one child living—Freeman Berton, who is in an office in New York.
Sutherland, Rev. Alexander, D.D., Toronto. No man is more widely known throughout this Dominion as an able preacher, a keen debater, a leader in the church courts of his own denomination, and a man of general sympathies and influence in the community, than the subject of this sketch. And his high position he owes to no favouritism of friends or fortune, but, under God, to the native abilities which his strong will and consecrated heart have guided into channels of general usefulness. Alexander Sutherland was born in the township of Guelph, Ontario, September 17th, 1833. His father was Captain Nicholas Sutherland, born in Dundee, Scotland; and his mother, Mary Henderson, a native of Port Glasgow. The family settled in the township of Guelph in 1832. Amid the hardships of pioneer life, opportunities for scholarships were few, and the now learned doctor’s early education was confined to a few terms in a backwood’s school. His good Scotch parents, however, early planted within him a love of learning, and that process of self-culture was begun which has continued through life. As a child he was able to read fluently before ever going to school. When he was nine years of age his father died; and, at thirteen years of age, he was forced to leave home and earn his own living. For seven years he was a printer, and during those years, as indeed from earliest boyhood, he read with avidity whatever came in his way. Thus were those stores of information accumulated which have helped to make their possessor a ready speaker and a formidable opponent on so many diverse subjects and occasions. When about sixteen years old he became connected with a Methodist Sunday-school, and also with temperance organizations, in which he was repeatedly presiding