Birtles, Mary (1859–1943)

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Birtles, Mary (1859–1943)

Canadian nurse. Born Mary Ellen Birtles, 1859, in Hepworth, near Yorkshire, England; died June 22, 1943.

One of the 1st trained nurses in the Canadian west, immigrated with family to Brandon, Manitoba (1883); became assistant nurse at Medicine Hat General Hospital in Alberta (1890), then head nurse at a hospital in Brandon; appointed matron of Calgary General Hospital (1894), where she created Calgary General Hospital Training School; returned to Brandon (1898) and served as matron of the General Hospital until 1919.