E. Harry Botterell: A Series of Papers Commemorating his Life and Contributions

Abstract

I am as proud to participate in this In Memoriam honouring Dr. Harry Botterell today as I was to serve as his Junior House Surgeon exactly 44 years ago when a rotation through "D" O.R. at Toronto General Hospital was an exhilarating introduction to a man who changed my life profoundly. His obituary notice in The Toronto Globe & Mail said he touched the lives of many; we can confidently add that he shaped the academic and professional careers of several of Canada's leading neurosurgeons. Dr. Botterell's very significant contributions to our discipline, to Medicine, to Education will be highlighted by others but I was invited to chronicle Dr. Botterell's life history. Since it would be next to impossible for me to think of Harry Botterell simply in terms of his curriculum vitae, I will also share with you some personal recollections illustrating how Dr. Botterell more than "touched" the lives of his Chief Residents. Many could match or embroider these reflections of a privileged residency with Harry Botterell that now return, as Charlie Drake might say, "with startling clarity" and if you accept that memory is not retrieval but reconstruction of the past, you will be more inclined to forgive any liberties I may take with the details. Edmund Henry (Harry) Botterell was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the oldest of the four children of John Esterbrook and Louise (Armstrong) Botterell, on February 28, 1906. His early education at Ridley College School in St. Catharines, Ontario was followed by attendance at McGill University for a year. Returning to Winnipeg, where the family now lived, to support his widowed mother after his father's early death, he subsequently received his M.D. degree from the University of Manitoba, graduating with honours in 1930. After postgraduate training as Resident Surgeon at Winnipeg General Hospital and then as Resident Physician at Montreal General Hospital, Dr. Botterell came to the University of Toronto and the Toronto General Hospital. He had been persuaded to move eastward by William Boyd, Professor of Pathology in Winnipeg and in Toronto he served as demonstrator in anatomy with Professor J.C.B. Grant and as tutor in physiology with Professor C.H. Best. Many of us will confess how much our own Royal College Certification and surgical practice owe to the textbooks of these three illustrious authors! On December 23, 1933 Harry Botterell married Margaret Talbot Matheson, the daughter of the Most Rev. Samuel Pritchard Matheson and Alice Talbot of Winnipeg. During 1934-35 Dr. Botterell was a Fellow at the National Hospital, Queen Square, London, England, legendary centre for neurological training in the classical tradition of careful clinical observation. At "Queen Square" he was a clerk for the great Gordon Holmes. Then, in 1935-36, he served as a research fellow in Professor John Fulton's laboratory at Yale University, engaged in experimental neurophysiology of the primate cerebellum and in pioneering work on the physiology of tremor. He EDMUND HENRY ("HARRY") BOTTERELL OC OBE MD M...

A History of Neurosurgery in Canada

“…Indeed, as I conclude this reminiscence of a "wonderful residency" with Dr. Harry Botterell I am obliged to say that I, personally, adored the man." 54 Program Directors must now attest to the attitudes and moral standing of their trainees. They are required to role-model and teach the resident how to be a medical expert, communicator, scholar, collaborator, manager, professional and health advocate.…”