Arthur Evans Snell

Colonel A.E. Snell CMG, OStJ, DSO (March 91, 1877 - September 25, 1967) was the tenth Canadian Surgeon General.

Biography Born in Woodbridge, Ontario, A.E. Snell was educated at the University of Toronto, where he graduated with a Medical Degree.

He joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps (CAMC) as a member of the Non-Permanent Active Militia, commissioned as a lieutenant 21 November 1905. His early career can be traced in the published Militia Lists. He qualified for his rank in 1906 and was promoted captain in 1908, all of his time as a junior medical officer being spent posted to No. XIII (Cavalry) Field Ambulance, Toronto. He transferred to the Permanent Army Medical Corps as lieutenant in 1910, captain in 1912. In the spring of 1914 he was appointed Assistant Director General Medical Services (A.D.M.S.), the senior medical officer for the Military Division No. 1, Western Ontario, with H.Q. London, Ont.

In September 1914, Snell was granted a temporary commission in 2 Canadian Field Ambulance of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (C.E.F.), and proceeded to France with that unit in February 1915.

In 1933, Snell was appointed Director General Medical Services. He retired in 1936. During his tenure as D.G.M.S. he succeeded in guiding a careful and relatively painless inter-war reduction of the Army Medical Corps, part of a larger reduction of the Canadian Militia in the face of severe budgetary constraint and changing military technology.

Colonel Snell died 25 September 1967 at the age of 91.