John McCrae

Lt. Col. John McCrae M.D., B.A., F.R.C.P.(Eng.), F.R.C.S.(Eng.), C.A.M.C. Physician, Soldier, Poet – 1872-1918

Lt. Col. John McCrae, M. D. was born on November 30, 1872 at 108 Water St in Guelph. His birthplace and family home is now the McCrae House Museum, a place of national significance.

John McCrae was a student from 1883 to 1888 at the Guelph Collegiate Institute or the High School as it was called at that time, and now the Guelph Collegiate-Vocational Institute.

Eagerly he took part in all aspects of school life, participating in sports and excelling academically. He had a great love for the outdoors and remarkable compassion for both people and animals. At age 14 he joined the Guelph Highland Cadets Corps. In 1887, John McCrae, a senior member of the Corps, earned a medal presented to him by G. W. Ross, Minister of Education to the best boy in Highland Cadets. In Dr. William Tytler’s classes he learned to love the English language. Dr. Tytler, at the time was Principal of GCI and influenced John’s aptitude and enthusiasm for writing poetry. He graduated high school at the age of 16. John McCrae was a tall, handsome man and physically fit. His contagious smile and cheerfulness endeared him to all his friends. He was socially successful wherever he went.

At 17, he joined the Militia field battery commanded by his father. He won a scholarship to the University of Toronto, although his studies were disrupted by severe asthma. During his forced year away from university due to illness, he served as assistant resident master and taught English and mathematics at Ontario Agricultural College in 1892-93, now with the University of Guelph. He graduated University of Toronto with an Honours B.A. degree in biology in 1894. He is author of 19 poems published during the period 1895-1917. He won a gold medal and scholarship in physiology and pathology. He acquired his M.B. in 1898. During the year after graduation, he interned at Toronto General Hospital and the following year interned at Baltimore’s famous John Hopkins Hospital. At 28 years of age he volunteered and served as Lieutenant of Artillery in the South African Boer War in 1900. On return to Canada in 1901 he was a Governor’s Fellow in pathology at McGill University and in 1902 resident pathologist at Montreal General Hospital. He continued to work hard at his university teaching and his increasingly busy practice.

John McCrae was a Major of the 16th Battery, C. F. A., Guelph; a surgeon, First Brigade Field Artillery, C. E. F., 1914-1915; in charge of Medical Division No. 3 (McGill) Canadian General Hospital at Boulogne, France, 1915-1918. In January 1918 he was appointed Consulting Physician to the British Armies in France and given a rank as Colonel, a great honour. Five days later, John McCrae, physician-soldier-poet, died of pneumonia in Ypres, France in Active Service on January 28, 1918. He was 45 years old and buried with full military honours in Wimereux Cemetery, near Boulogne, France.
The John McCrae Scholarship, was a University of Toronto scholarship and awarded to a graduating student of GCVI, McCrae’s alma mater. This very lucrative scholarship was founded in honour of the late John McCrae. The scholarship began in 1919 and by GCVI archival records, recipient names have been recorded since its inception.

In the GCVI 1931 Acta Nostra yearbook it notes “the most noteworthy addition to the new school this year is the Library. Although only in its infancy, as yet, we hope to obtain more books in the future…. We are very grateful to the family of the late Col. John McCrae for the large donation of books…”

Major McCrae wrote “In Flanders Fields” at the age of 43, while in the trenches during the second battle of Ypres on May 3, 1915. The poem is his response to the battlefield death of a friend. The poem was first published in the December 8, 1915 issue of Punch, a London, England magazine and was unsigned, but within a short period of time the author became known. Because of McCrae’s writing of this poem, the poppy was adopted as the Flower of Remembrance. This marks the 100th anniversary in 2015 of this legendary elegy poem, “In Flanders Fields.”

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on Row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

 

Commemorating Lt. Col. John McCrae at Guelph Collegiate-Vocational Institute 

GCVI’s Memorial Mural Wall was created in 1980-81 in memory of former students of this school who have volunteered for Active Service with Canada’s Fighting Forces, students of GCI who served in the Boer War 1899-1902, in memory of Lt. Col. John McCrae, Capt. John Kenneth Macalister and those former students who gave the ultimate sacrifice in WWI, 1914-1918 and WWII, 1939-1945.

 

 

John McCrae’s portrait is on GCVI’s “Wall of Fame,” located in the main corridor of the school. This wall of portraits was established in 1993 to recognize former GCVI students who have made a significant contribution to society. Students are nominated and selected to have their name, history and portrait appear on our “Wall of Fame.”

 

 

 

 

GCVI’s tree sanctuary is dedicated to the protection and propagation of our native trees and to the education on the benefits of urban forestry and was initiated in 2007. It was named The John McCrae Victory Arboretum in 2012, in memory of former student John McCrae. GCVI is pleased to establish our campus as an arboretum, making it the first high school in Canada to do so.

 

 

An oil on canvas painting by Robert W. McCorkindale, a GCVI grad of 1954 and a closely related cousin of Col. John McCrae, was presented to the school in May, 2015 and hangs in the main corridor. The painting was part of a juried art exhibition in response to the Guelph Civic Museum’s call for artworks to commemorate McCrae’s wartime poem “In Flanders Fields.” McCorkindale’s inspiration for this painting was to express McCrae’s high military achievements and outstanding medical accomplishments as a physician.

 

 

A maquette, bronze model, of the Lt. Col. John McCrae sculpture was presented to GCVI by the Guthrie family at our Remembrance Day ceremony on November 10, 2015. The original sculpture is located on the grounds of the Guelph Civic Museum.

 

Information for this article was gleaned from materials in the GCVI school archives
by W. Darroch, December, 2015

 

 

 “Lest We Forget” is a translucent picture placed on the beautiful travertine floor of the old school in front of the oil on canvas painting by Robert W. McCorkindale.