Memorable Manitobans: Horatio Clarence “Horace” Norquay (1869-1953)

Physician.

Born at High Bluff on 8 November 1869, son of Elizabeth Setter (1842-1933) and John Norquay, he was part of the first class to graduate from Manitoba Medical College in 1895. After spending five years in the Yukon beginning in 1897, he returned to Manitoba and worked as an assistant at the Selkirk Mental Hospital for five years.

While in service to the Department of Indian Affairs as a medical officer, he worked at Norway House for five years and in the North Battleford district for twenty years. In his attempts to battle the ravages of diphtheria and typoid, he traveled to such reserves as Thunderchild, Moosomin, Poundmaker’s, Little Pines, Stoney and Sweetgrass. After his retirement in 1938, he moved back to Selkirk in 1939.

He was married twice, first to Matilda “Mattie” Allen (1873-1911). On 11 August 1913, he married Orpha Beatrice Taylor (1885-1954) at St. Andrews. They had six children: John Henry Norquay (1914-?), Ruth Elizabeth Norquay (1915-1983, wife of William Reginald Stubbs), David Norquay (1917-1967), Horace Alexander Norquay (1919-?), ? Norquay (?-?, wife of Allan C. Montgomery), and James Norquay. He was a member of the Anglican Church and AF & AM (Lisgar Lodge).

He died at Selkirk General Hospital on 27 December 1953 and was buried in the Old St. Andrews Anglican churchyard.

See also:

A Thousand Words: The Yukon Party from Manitoba by Gordon Goldsborough
Manitoba History, Number 49, June 2005

Sources:

Birth registrations [Horatio Clarenc Norquay, John Henry Norquay, Ruth Elizabeth Norquay, Horace Alexander Norquay], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Marriage registration [Horatio Clarence Norquay, Orpha Taylor], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Death registration [Matilda Norquay], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“Dr. Norquay, son of Manitoba early premier, hailed at 81,” Winnipeg Tribune, 10 November 1950. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B10, page 161]

“Pioneer doctor is dead,” Winnipeg Tribune, 28 December 1953.

“Pioneer physician Dr. H. C. Norquay dies at 84 years,” Winnipeg Free Press, 28 December 1953, page 25.

Obituary [Orpha Beatrice Norquay], Winnipeg Free Press, 19 April 1954, page 6.

Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.

This page was prepared by Sarah Ramsden and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 23 December 2022

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