Worthington, E.D. (Edward Dagge), 1820-1895 : Edward Dagge Worthington was a physician, surgeon, militia officer and author. He was born 1 December, 1820 in Ireland, the son of John Worthington and Mary Dagge. He died 25 February, 1895 in Sherbrooke, Quebec.
Edward Worthington immigrated to Quebec with his parents in 1822. In August 1833, he was indentured for seven years to James Douglas, a distinguished Quebec surgeon. Medical apprenticeship was common in the Canadas at that time since the only medical education was at McGill College in Montreal.
In 1837, Worthington served as a private in the Quebec Regiment of Volunteer Light Infantry. Three years later, he was appointed acting assistant surgeon to the 56th Foot. Also in 1841, he attended medical classes at the University of Edinburgh. In May 1843, he was granted a medical degree by the University of St. Andrew's, and in June he became a licentiate of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.
Back in Lower Canada, Worthington was licensed on 9 August, 1843. He immediately settled in Sherbrooke, becoming one of four doctors there who served the town and the countryside for a radius of 20 miles. He was an active practitioner, both as a physician and a surgeon. Worthington published the results of two operations in the "British American Journal of Medicine and Physical Sciences" for 1847 and 1848, and later he published extensively in the "Canadian Medical Journal." In 1854, Bishop's College, Lennoxville, conferred on him an honorary Master of Arts degree, and in 1868, he received a medical degree from McGill College.
By 1860, he had nearly all the surgical practice in the eastern Townships. He was the first president of the St. Francis District Medical Association. He was also named a governor of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Lower Canada in 1860. In 1867, he participated in the founding of the Canadian Medical Association. In 1877, he was the association's president for the province of Quebec.
Throughout his medical career, Worthington maintained his involvement in the militia. He served during the Fenian Raids in 1866 and 1870. He was also attached to the 53rd (Sherbrooke) Battalion of Infantry since its formation in 1866, he retired from it with the rank of surgeon-major in 1887.
By 1892, Worthington had become incapacitated by illness, and occupied himself by writing his reminiscences. They were published in the "Medical Age" (Detroit). He died on 25 February.
