Wilfred Grenfell

When Wilfred Grenfell, an English doctor, arrived in Newfoundland in 1892 he found fishermen and their families living in squalor and dying from malnutrition and disease. As a man not afraid to upset the established way of doing things, Grenfell was determined to help. He started by setting up a hospital at Battle Harbour. Other hospitals followed, as well as nursing stations, orphanages, and a traveling library. He made enemies along the way, especially among the local merchants when he helped fishermen set up their own co-operative stores. As the great doctor himself acknowledged, he brought healing to Newfoundland and Labrador, but no one welcomed him except the people he served.