Major-General Dr. George Ryerson, KStJ, UE, MD
George Ryerson was a significant figure for both St. John Ambulance and the Canadian Red Cross. A medical doctor by vocation, he is also remembered as a military officer and a politician. Ryerson was a Conservative Member of the Provincial Parliament for the ridings of Toronto (1893-1894) and Toronto East (1894-1898).
While Ryerson began his medical in Toronto, he also studied in Edinburgh, Paris, London, Vienna, and Heidelberg.1 During his time at the University of Edinburgh, he studied under Dr. Robert Bell, who was the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes.2 He would become one of Canada’s first ophthalmologists and otolaryngologists.3 Upon his return to Canada, he was presented to Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lorne, who was the daughter of Queen Victoria and wife of the Marquis of Lorne (later Duke of Argyle), the Governor General of Canada. Ultimately, Princess Louise did not need his services.4
Early Military Service
At the age of 15, Ryerson joined No 4 Company of the Queen’s Own Rifles of Toronto in 1870. In his memoirs, he stated that he and his friends joined underage as a lark. A year later, he entered the School of Military Instruction and rose to the rank of Captain. He was appointed as an acting Ensign with the 10th Royal Regiment of Toronto Volunteers.5 In the Fenian Raid of that year, his unit guarded the armoury and magazine, but the enemy never got close to Toronto.6
In 1880, Ryerson was gazetted as Assistant Surgeon for the 10th Battalion, Royal Grenadiers. He then organized what he believed to be the first stretcher-bearer section (then known as an Ambulance Corps) in Canada. He bore part of the cost for the equipment himself.7
North-West Rebellion
Ryerson was informed on the night of March 27, 1885 to prepare to head west to suppress the rebellion as part of the 10th Royal Grenadiers. On April 24, the Royal Grenadiers came into contact with the enemy at the Battle of Fish Creek.
On May 9, on the first day of the Battle of Batoche, he set up his dressing station in a church that occasionally came under fire due to a Gatling gun close to his position. By nighttime, Ryerson and his men had to withdraw from the church. Ryerson came under fire when evacuating a casualty that had been left behind. He had to operate by candlelight that night directly on a stretcher. Late in the battle on May 12, an officer was killed right in front of Ryerson,8 one of the many incidents that may have contributed to his efforts later in life.
He used a horse-drawn ambulance marked with a red cross to transport casualties during the battle.9 Ryerson believed that it was the first red cross flown in Canada.
During his time out west, Ryerson was asked to treat Louis Riel, who had been captured.10 Witnessing the death and injuries of those around him may have contributed to his later work with the military and St. John Ambulance.
Establishment of the St. John Ambulance Association in Canada
Ryerson was appointed an Honorary Associate of the Order of St. John in 1892 on account of the services he rendered at the Northwest Rebellion. In 1895, he organized the St. John Ambulance Association in Canada. He asked permission from St. John’s Gate in London, England, to establish a branch of the Association in Canada. He was granted permission on March 8, 1895 to establish the Dominion Council of the St John Ambulance Association.11 A centre was established in Toronto on February 5, 1896. The Centre for the Province of Ontario was organized at a meeting held at the Canadian Military Institute on November 25, 1895. This was only the second centre to be established in Canada, the first being opened in Halifax in 1892. For Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, Ryerson was promoted to Esquire in 1897 and was promoted to Knight of Grace at the conclusion of the Second Boer War.12 The Head Office of the St. John Ambulance Association was moved from Toronto to Ottawa in 1910, which coincided with Ryerson retiring as General Secretary of the Association.
Ryerson was an early advocate for the need and value of first aid training in the event of a crisis. His efforts would help expand the St. John Ambulance Association throughout Ontario and Canada.13
In 1896, Ryerson was involved in the formation of what would eventually become known as the Canadian Red Cross Society after petitioning for a Canadian Branch during a trip in London.14
Ryerson was involved in the formation of the Association of Medical Officers of the Canadian Militia. The association first met at the Canadian Military Institute in Toronto on June 1, 1892. He would become Deputy Surgeon-General in 1895.15
Second Boer War
In 1900, he went to South Africa as the Commissioner of the Canadian Red Cross.16 In South Africa, he visited and looked after the needs of the Canadian wounded. Later he was appointed British Sub-Commissioner for the Red Cross.17 He travelled to the front and visited Canadian casualties at numerous locations including Kimberley and Paarderg.
First World War
At the Outbreak of the First World War, Ryerson departed for Valcartier, Quebec for Canadian Red Cross duties, where he saw off two of his sons for overseas service. In March 1915, he departed overseas to Britain to serve for the Canadian Red Cross. He was elected as a member of the Joint Committee of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St John. After receiving news of the Battle of St. Julien on April 23, Ryerson inquired at the Canadian Records regarding the rumoured death of his niece’s husband. While he was informed that the husband was not killed, he also discovered that his son George Ryerson, was killed in action while serving with the 3rd (Toronto Regiment) Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. His other son, Albert, had been severely wounded. He was granted permission to travel to France to meet his surviving son in a hospital in Boulogne. Albert had been injured by shrapnel in the abdomen.18 While his son was transported back to London, Ryerson departed for Paris to attend Red Cross business. While inspecting a hospital on the Normandy coast, he learned of the Lusitania sinking by a German U-Boat. His wife Mary Crowther and his daughter were aboard. After returning to London, he would learn that his daughter survived and his wife did not.19 This came less than two weeks after his son’s death. He continued to tour hospitals and returned home with his daughter in July 1915.
His third son, Eric Ryerson, was also wounded in action but would rejoin his unit. His fourth son Arthur, who had been wounded at St. Julien, would also return to France during the war. Ryerson also lost an additional nephew in action.
Ryerson married his second wife Elizabeth Thomas in 1916. She died in 1924.
Other Activities
George Ryerson was of Loyalist descent.20 He was involved in the formation of the United Empire Loyalists Association of Ontario and served as its second president.21 This organization was formed for the descendants of those who had stayed loyal to the Crown during the American Revolution. This organization continues to exist at the national level. Ryerson died of a heart attack in Toronto in 1925. At the time of his death, he was the most senior Canadian member of the Order of St. John.
Ryerson died of a heart attack in Toronto in 1925. At the time of his death, he was the most senior Canadian member of the Order of St. John.22
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1 Christopher McCreery, The Maple Leaf and the White Cross: A History of St. John Ambulance and the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in Canada (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2008), 37
2 Ryerson, 35.
3 McCreery, 37.
4 Ryerson, 51.
5 Ryerson, 60-61.
6 Ryerson, 68.
7 Ryerson, 70.
8 Ryerson, 74-79
9 Christopher McCreery, The Maple Leaf and the White Cross: A History of St. John Ambulance and the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in Canada (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2008), 37.
10 Ryerson, 80-85.
11 McCreery, 38.
12 Ryerson, 105.
13 McCreery, 38.
14 Ryerson, 117.
15 McCreery, 38.
16 Ryerson, 162
17 Ryerson, 179.
18 Ryerson, 194-197.
19 Ryerson, 201-202.
20 Ryerson, 16.
21 Ryerson, 153.
22 McCreery, 39.
