Andrew Macphail

Sir John Andrew Macphail, (November 24, 1864 – September 23, 1938) was a Canadian physician, author, professor of medicine, and soldier. Macphail was a prolific writer, and an influential intellectual during the early twentieth century.

Life and work

Macphail was born on November 24, 1864, in Orwell, on the family's newly purchased 100-acre farm. His father was William Macphail, a schoolmaster; his mother was Catherine Moore Smith formerly of Newton, P.E.I.

Macphail was educated at Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown, and then at McGill University in Montreal, As a member of the Sixth Field Ambulance, he served in several battles, including Vimy Ridge.

Macphail was also a novelist. The vine of Sibmah: a relation of the Puritans (1906) is a romantic novel set in the Restoration period. In 1921, he published the first translation of Louis Hémon's classic Maria Chapdelaine.

Macphail published four one-act plays: The land (1914), The last rising (1930), Company (1936), and The new house (1937). None of these were performed. The Land, based loosely on The Taming of the Shrew, decried market speculation, class inequality, and changing family values, and promoted a return to a rural way of life.

In 1929, Mcphail write a book, Three persons, consisted of detailed reviews of the memoirs written by three First World War authors, including T. E. Lawrence. The reviews received attention in both Canada and Europe; the London Mercury labelled the book 'the most devastating review published in the last hundred years.'" The Governor General, Earl Grey, called it "the best periodical published in Canada." Sponsored by Dalhousie, McGill and Toronto universities, its contributors included Rudyard Kipling, several cabinet ministers, and many Canadian academics and literary figures such as Stephen Leacock and Marjorie Pickthall.

The Master's Wife

Macphail's book The Master's Wife was published posthumously, in 1939.

Recognition

In January 1918, Macphail received a knighthood as a Knight Bachelor for his literary accomplishments and military service. It is the site of the Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project, a joint effort of the Foundation and the Environmental Coalition of Prince Edward Island to preserve the old-growth Acadian Forest covering much of the property.

Publications

Essays in Politics. London, New York: Longman's Green, 1903. Essays in Puritanism. London: T.F. Unwin, 1905. Essays in Fallacy. New York: Longmans Green, 1910. The Book of Sorrow. London, New York: Oxford U P, 1916. The Cavendish Lecture on a Day's Work. London: Lancet, 1917. Official History of the Canadian Forces in the Great War 1914-1919: The Medical Services. Ottawa: Acland, 1925. An Address on American Methods in Medical Education. London: British Medical Association, 1927. Three Persons. London: J. Murray, 1929. The Bible in Scotland. London: J. Murray, 1931. Our Canadian Speech. Montreal: La Patrie, 1935. The Master's Wife. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.

Fiction and drama The Vine of Sibmah: A Relation of the Puritans. New York: Macmillan, 1906. The Land. 1914. The Last Rising. 1930. Company. 1936. The New House. 1937.

Selected articles "John Knox and the Church of England," The University Magazine, Vol. VI, 1907. "Loyalty — to What," The University Magazine, Vol. VI, 1907. "The Patience of England," The University Magazine, Vol. VI, 1907. "What Can Canada Do," The University Magazine, Vol. VI, 1907. "The American Woman," Part II, The Living Age, Vol. CCLIX, 1908. "The Dominion and the Spirit," The University Magazine, Vol. VII, 1908. "Protection and Politics," The University Magazine, Vol. VII, 1908. "Why the Conservatives Failed," The University Magazine, Vol. VII, 1908. "New Lamps for Old," The University Magazine, Vol. VIII, 1909. "British Diplomacy and Canada," The University Magazine, Vol. VIII, 1909. "The Nine Prophets," The University Magazine, Vol. VIII, 1909. "Canadian Writers and American Politics," The University Magazine, Vol. IX, 1910. "Oxford and Working-class Education," The University Magazine, Vol. IX, 1910. "An Obverse View of Education," The University Magazine, Vol. IX, 1910. "A Voice from the East," The University Magazine, Vol. IX, 1910. "The New Theology," The University Magazine, Vol. IX, 1910. "Certain Varieties of the Apples of Sodom," The University Magazine, Vol. X, 1911. "The Cleaning of the Slate," The University Magazine, Vol. X, 1911. "Confiscatory Legislation," The University Magazine, Vol. X, 1911. "Why the Liberals Failed," The University Magazine, Vol. X, 1911. "The Tariff Commission," The University Magazine, Vol. XI, 1912. "The Cost of Living," The University Magazine, Vol. XI, 1912. "The Navy and Politics," The University Magazine, Vol. XII, 1913. "Unto the Church," The University Magazine, Vol. XII, 1913. "Theory and Practice," The University Magazine, Vol. XII, 1913. "The Hill of Error," The University Magazine, Vol. XII, 1913. "The Dominion and the Provinces," The University Magazine, Vol. XII, 1913. "Patriotism and Politics," The University Magazine, Vol. XIII, 1914. "On Certain Aspects of Feminism," The University Magazine, Vol. XIII, 1914. "Consequences and Penalties," The University Magazine, Vol. XIII, 1914. "The Day of Wrath," The University Magazine, Vol. XIII, 1914. "Val Cartier Camp," The University Magazine, Vol. XIII, 1914. "An Ambulance in Rest," The University Magazine, Vol. XVI, 1917. "In this Our Necessity," The University Magazine, Vol. XVI, 1917. "The Conservative," The University Magazine, Vol. XVIII, 1919. "Women in Democracy," The University Magazine, Vol. XIX, No. 1, 1920. "The Immigrant," The University Magazine, Vol. XIX, No. 2, 1920.

Other works In Flanders Fields, by John McCrae, with an essay by Andrew Macphail, 1919. A Vista, by John Crichton, with a preface by Andrew Macphail, 1921. Selected Poems, by Arthur Bourinot, with a note by Andrew Macphail, 1935.