Canada, Cef. A Canadian Army Medical Corps Framed Photograph, Lieutenant-Colonel James Edgar Davey

Portrait photograph in black and white, illustrating a group of eight Canadian Army Medical Corps officers in full dress uniform, in a studio setting, four of the officers seated, the other four standing behind the seated officers, with Lieutenant-Colonel James Edgar Davey seated second from the left in the front row, the image area of the photograph measuring 345 mm (w) x 261 mm (h), matted, under glass and contained within a 535 mm (w) x 435 mm (h) wooden frame, kraft paper backer with a label affixed inscribed "From the Estate of Col. J.E. Davey, DSO / CANADIAN ARMY MEDICAL CORPS / HAMILTON, ONTARIO / Col. Davey is second from left in the front row", the photograph retaining its original crispness and has not faded with age. Extremely fine.

Footnote: James Edgar Davey was born on May 15, 1873 in Jerseyville, Wentworth County, Ontario. Dr. Davey signed his Attestation Paper as a Major with the Canadian Army Medical Corps on February 23, 1915 in Toronto, Ontario, at the age of 41, naming his next-of-kin as his wife, Jennie E. Davey of Hamilton, Ontario, stating that he had seven years' experience in training camps with the Canadian Army Medical Corps, that he was Married, that his religion was Wesleyan and that his trade was that of Physician. Major Davey departed Canada for overseas service on April 19, 1915 from Montreal, Quebec aboard the S.S. Northland, arriving in England shortly thereafter. Three weeks later, he left for service in the French theatre on May 8, 1915. It was here that he was assigned to No. 2 Casualty Clearing Station, proceeding to his new unit on August 18th and placed on command with them on the 24th, followed three days later by his promotion to Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel on August 27th. He was granted nine days' leave of absence to go to Paris, on May 19, 1916, rejoining his unit on May 27th. One year later, he was again granted a leave of absence, this time for fourteen days, from May 5 to May 18, 1917, but his records do not indicate his destination. Lieutenant-Colonel Davey was struck off strength of No. 2 Casualty Clearing Station and posted to the Cnaadian Army Medical Corps Depot at Shorncliffe, England, on November 16, 1917. He was subsequently assigned to Transport Duty to Canada on December 7, 1917 and retained in Canada for duty as of January 15, 1918.

Lieutenant-Colonel Davey was Mentioned in Despatches, the announcement appearing in the Second Supplement to the London Gazette 30448 of Tuesday, December 25, 1917, on Friday, December 28, 1917, page 13574. In addition, Lieutenant-Colonel Davey was awarded the Distinguished Service Order as a New Year Honour, the announcement appearing in the London Gazette 30450 of Friday, December 28, 1917, on Tuesday, January 1, 1918, page 28 (no citation) and in the Canada Gazette of Saturday, January 26, 1918, page 2490. Lieutenant-Colonel Davey, Canadian Army Medical Corps was posted to the CAMC Depot, where he was discharged upon demobilization, on March 15, 1919, credited with having served in Canada, England and France, with the CAMC No. 2 Casualty Clearing Station, the CAMC Depot, on Transport Duty to Canada and at the CAMC Training Depot No. 2 (Brant Military Hospital). Postwar, Dr. Davey returned to civilian life, where he became School Officer of Health for Hamilton, Ontario and formed a partnership between himself and Dr. James Roberts of Public Health in 1922. This saw the beginnings of the testing and immunization of school children against diphtheria, with Hamilton becoming the first city to immunize its children against the infection. Diphtheria, or the "strangling angel of children", was one of the great scourges of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: highly contagious and frequently fatal, with thousands dying, mostly children. Dr. Roberts had gone to New York City in 1921, to hear Dr. W.H. Park deliver a report on the immunization of children against it in that city. When he returned, he and Dr. Davey began a program unprecedented in Canada at the time, to test and immunize local children against the disease. A clinic for immunization was opened in July that year, which began administering a test to determine vulnerability. Those found at risk were given the vaccination to prevent infection. Thanks to the hard work of the assisting physicians and nurses, Dr. Roberts and Dr. Davey helped to eradicate diphtheria in the city. This made Hamilton the first city in North America to undertake a widespread immunization program against diphtheria. The testing program continued in schools, and in 1925 started to show significant results with the number of cases reduced by 54 per cent and the number of deaths decreasing by 54 per cent as well. In 1931, Hamilton had no diphtheria deaths for the first time since statistics were recorded. In 1934, Hamilton was diphtheria free. In 1944, when the Health League of Canada issued a survey, it was established that Hamilton had been free of diphtheria for eleven consecutive years, believed to be a world record for the time. Dr. J. Edgar Davey Elementary Public School at 99 Ferguson Avenue in Hamilton is named after him.

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