Ophthalmologist.
Born at London, England on 28 April 1914 to Emmeline Louise and Morris William Reed, he attended West Ham Secondary School. He was already an accomplished pianist and organist when he decided to pursue a career in medicine. He started by obtaining his qualifications as an optometrist, then paid his way through medical school by working as an optometrist in the evenings and weekends. He studied at the London Hospital Medical School by day through the week. The Second World War changed the course of his medical studies. All medical school residents were being called up for active duty as regimental medical officers in the armed forces. He was sent to various hospitals in London to handle casualties of the bombing raids.
Upon graduating from Connaught Hospital Medical School, he married Margaret V. (1912-1975) on 5 July 1941, with whom he went on to have three children. In 1941 he had to choose between serving in the Medical Core of the army or the Colonial Medical Service. He chose the Colonial Medical Service, which meant he would not be required to take lives. In 1943, he and the family were sent to Tanzania in East Africa.
Upon returning to England, he registered for studies in Ophthalmology at Oxford University, and received his diploma in 1947. Passing the Fellowship of Royal Colleges of Surgeons examination in 1950, he began a practice in Bexleyheath, south of London. However, he had come to enjoy adventure, and replied to an advertisement to open an eye department in the Winnipeg Clinic. The position came with a professorship at the University of Manitoba and hospital beds in the General Hospital. His application accepted, he moved his family to Canada in 1953. He remained with the Winnipeg Clinic until his retirement. For a time, he served as head of the Ophthalmology Department for the Children’s Hospital. He also founded the Eye Department at the Misericordia Hospital, and was instrumental in setting up the first eye bank in Manitoba for corneal grafts. In 1960, he wrote the textbook The Essentials of Perimetry (Oxford University Press), with a second edition being published in 1972. Together with his wife Margaret, he founded the Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology in 1966.
After Margaret’s death, he married Carolyn Jean Wilbur (1922-2004). Throughout his life he enjoyed reading, learning, and travelling, and while still working, spent several months each year in underdeveloped countries volunteering his time to do ophthalmological work in various hospitals, thus combining his love for adventure with his desire to help others.
He died at Winnipeg on 15 November 2010.
Obituary [Margaret V. Reed], Winnipeg Free Press, 14 October 1975, page 43.
Obituary [Carolyn Jean Reed], Winnipeg Free Press, 20 February 2004.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 18 November 2010.
“Reed, Howard Newns,” Plarr’s Lives of the Fellows, Royal College of Surgeons of England.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 18 November 2025
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