Canada. A Memorial Cross of Lieut. Colonel Seaborn, Author of The March of Medicine

A Memorial Cross of Lieut. Colonel Seaborn; Author of The March of Medicine - GRVI (LT-COL E. SEABORN). Naming is officially engraved. Light contact, without ribbon, near extremely fine. Accompanied by a reproduction photograph of Seaborn in uniform. Footnote: Edwin Seaborn was born on May 14, 1872 in Rawdon, Quebec and was a university student at Western University (University of Western Ontario) beginning in 1891. Within two years of completing his medical degree in 1895, he assisted as a Demonstrator of Anatomy, occupied the Chair of Anatomy, and held a professorship position in Surgery, all of which he maintained until the beginning of the First World War. Western University's initial offer to establish a hospital unit for overseas service was declined by the government. In March 1916, Dr. Seaborn, Dr. McCallum and Dr. Beal, on behalf of the Medical Faculty, requested that the University renew its offer. Appointed by the Board of Governors to present the offer, President Braithwaite and Dr. Seaborn met with A.E. Kemp, Acting Minister of Militia, in Ottawa on March 22nd. The War Office accepted the offer, to furnish a 400-bed hospital on April 28th. His work as a Faculty Member earned his stripes, literally, as the Board of Governors named him Commanding Officer, No. 10 Canadian Stationary Hospital on May 2, 1916. A committee consisting of Braithwaite, C.R. Somerville, Dr. McCallum and J.W. Little, was appointed by the Board to assist Seaborn in the selection of the medical and nursing staff. Seaborn signed his Officers' Declaration Paper on May 3, 1916 with No. 10 Stationary Hospital, Canadian Army Medical Corps in London, Ontario, naming his next-of-kin as his wife, Ina M. Seaborn of London, stating that he had previous military service with the Canadian Army Medical Corps, that he was married, that his religion was Episcopalian and that his profession was that of Physician and Surgeon. The unit embarked for England in July and August of 1916, with Seaborn arriving in England on August 23rd, serving at the 14th Canadian General Military Hospital at Eastbourne (nee Military Hospital at Eastbourne) from September 10th to November 28th. While many of the original members were dispersed to other facilities, Seaborn and the remaining personnel assumed the operation of hospitals in Sussex before proceeding to Calais, France in December 1917. It was at the 400-bed No. 10 Canadian Stationary Hospital, the university-led hospital in Calais, where Seaborn and his staff treated more than 16,000 patients, creating an international profile for the then unheralded school. The unit was demobilized in April 1919 and returned to London, Ontario in May, where Seaborn resumed many of his previous duties, including a private medical practice. He was active in the London and Middlesex Historical Society and collected many rare documents, diaries, letters and records from local residents, which he compiled in his 1944 book, "The March of Medicine". He died in 1951, his death related to his war service, as evidenced by the issuing of his Memorial Cross.