Morris, Frederick William

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Phyllis R. Blakeley, “MORRIS, FREDERICK WILLIAM,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/morris_frederick_william_9E.html
  • DCB profile:
    • Physician; baptized 29 May 1802 at Halifax, N.S., eighth son of Charles Morris (1759–1831), surveyor general of Nova Scotia, and Charlotte Pernette; m. 12 Nov. 1863 at Lunenburg, N.S., Janet Maria (Jessie) Solomon; they had no children; d. 4 Sept. 1867 at Halifax.
    • Frederick William Morris entered King’s College, Windsor, N.S., in 1816, but did not graduate, perhaps because his right hand had to be amputated following a shooting accident in 1820. After his recovery he was apprenticed to Dr William Bruce Almon, a leading Halifax surgeon. Morris continued his studies at the University of Edinburgh where he received his md on 1 Aug. 1825.
    • At a citizens’ meeting in Halifax on 20 Feb. 1855 Morris became one of eight doctors on the board of governors of the newly founded Halifax Visiting Dispensary. On 23 April 1855 Morris was appointed the dispensary’s resident physician with an annual salary of £100; he was to attend the clinic daily, dispense free medicine, visit the patients at home, and keep the records. Although the dispensary received small grants from the provincial government and the city, as well as voluntary contributions, it was always short of funds. Between 1855 and 1867 over 38,000 cases were treated there.
    • In the spring of 1861 Dr Morris administered a drug, “Indian Remedy,” as a cure for smallpox. He also published in the local press several letters urging its use. At a meeting of the Nova Scotia Medical Society on 6 May 1861 Morris was asked to give notes of patients treated with this remedy. He did so, but the meeting decided by a vote of ten to one that he had “not had any reliable data” upon which to base his recommendation. Finally the society passed a resolution that “Dr. Morris by lending his name and authority to the sale and use of . . . [a] remedy . . . of the utility of which he appears . . . to possess no conclusive evidence, has violated the rules of this society . . . and his name should be erased from the list of members.”
    • Action taken at the Halifax Visiting Dispensary was less drastic; although five of the medical governors resigned in protest at the decision, its board only censured Morris and demanded his written assurance that he would no longer prescribe the “Indian Remedy” or any other medicine not recognized by the medical profession. Morris accepted their reprimand.
  • Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=6005
  • Find a Grave: Cannot locate.