Date of issue: March 15, 1991
Printer: Ashton-Potter
Series: Canadian Doctors
Design: René Milot
Jennie Trout
Jennie Trout was born in 1841 in Kelso, Scotland. At the age of six, her family immigrated to Canada where they settled near Stratford, Ontario. In 1865 she married and moved to Toronto, where she was affected by “nervous disorders” which kept her housebound for several years. After experiencing some relief following treatment with electrotherapy, she developed an interest in medicine.
In 1869, she and Emily Stowe became the first women to attend the Toronto School of Medicine. Unable to complete her studies there because of her female sex, she went to the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, where she graduated with a medical degree in 1875. Following her return to Ontario, she became the first woman accredited to practice medicine in Canada (1875). Because of ill health, she retired from clinical practice after only a few years. She turned her energy to education and was instrumental in founding the Woman’s Medical College in Kingston. She died in California in 1921.
The Stamp
The stamp shows Trout in front of the Kingston Medical College that she helped establish. The first-day cover includes a photograph of it in the lower-left of the collage.
