Augusta Stowe-Gullen
Mausoleum: Room 60, Crypt E
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto
Born in Mount Pleasant, Canada West (Ontario) on July 27, 1857, Augusta came to Toronto as a young girl for her education and was eventually accepted into the Toronto School of Medicine. From there it was on to Victoria University in Cobourg and back to Toronto’s Trinity College. In 1883, Augusta Stowe became the first Canadian woman to study medicine in Canada and to graduate with a medical degree from a Canadian university. Years before, her mother, Dr. Emily Stowe, studied medicine in Canada, but was forced to obtain her medical degree from an American institution. A few years later, Dr. Stowe introduced the suffrage movement into Ontario that ultimately resulted in women obtaining the right to vote.
Augusta Stowe married Dr. John Gullen, one of the founders of Western Hospital on Bathurst Street soon after her graduation in 1883. For the next seven years, from 1883 until 1890, Dr. Stowe-Gullen was a demonstrator in anatomy at the Ontario Medical College for Women, after which she was appointed lecturer, then professor of diseases of children, at the college. She was also connected with the Western Hospital. In addition to her medical affiliations, Dr. Stowe-Gullen also championed other women's issues, serving as president of the Ontario Provincial Council of the National Council of Women for a period of four years, following which she was elected vice-president of the National Council. She also sat on the Senate of the University of Toronto for 12 years. Dr. Augusta Stowe-Gullen died at her residence, 461 Spadina Road, on September 25, 1943 at the age of 85.
Mike Filey
Mount Pleasant Cemetery: An Illustrated Guide
Second Edition Revised and Expanded