19 Facts About Brock Chisholm

Brock Chisholm was the 13th Canadian Surgeon General and the recipient of numerous accolades, including Order of Canada, Order of the British Empire, Military Cross, and the military Efficiency Decoration.

Brock Chisholm was born on 18 May 1896, in Oakville, Ontario, to a family with deep ties to the region.

Brock Chisholm's father was Frank Chisholm, who ran a coal yard.

In 1915 during the First World War, age 18, Brock Chisholm joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force, serving in the 15th Battalion, CEF as a cook, sniper, machine gunner and scout.

Brock Chisholm rose to the rank of captain, was injured once, and returned home in 1917.

Brock Chisholm showed the greatest coolness and determination on this occasion.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Brock Chisholm rapidly rose in stature within the Canadian military and government.

Brock Chisholm joined the war effort as a psychiatrist dealing with psychological aspects of soldier training, before rising to the rank of Director General Medical Services, the highest position within the medical ranks of the Canadian Army.

Brock Chisholm was the first psychiatrist to head the medical ranks of any army in the world.

Brock Chisholm was the first person to occupy the post and held it until 1946.

In 1946, Brock Chisholm became executive secretary of the Interim Commission of the World Health Organization, based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Brock Chisholm was now in the unique position of being able to bring his views on the importance of international mental and physical health to the world.

Brock Chisholm served as president of the World Federation of Mental Health.

Brock Chisholm was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a world constitution.

Brock Chisholm was a controversial public speaker who nevertheless spoke with great conviction, and drew much criticism from the Canadian public for comments in the mid-1940s that children should not be encouraged to believe in Santa Claus, the Bible or anything he regarded as supernaturalism.

In February 1946, Brock Chisholm spoke from the pulpit to the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa.

Five decades after his death, Brock Chisholm's beliefs were still exciting controversy.

On 4 February 1971, Brock Chisholm died age 74 in Veterans' Hospital, Victoria, British Columbia, after a series of strokes.

Brock Chisholm was an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, of the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Public Health Association among others.