1. Informational Report
Dr. James Wellington Crane
MB, LLD, MD
b. March 31, 1877
d. November 3, 1959
0.0 - Preface
This report has been compiled at the request of the fundraising committee of the Lower Thames
Valley Conservation Foundation, with the intention that some of the following information be
suitable to promote the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority’s Crane Conservation
Area. In researching Dr. Crane I have read his personal journals, researched public archives,
read all entries on his life as recorded in A Century of Medicine at Western (Barr, 1977), and
have traveled to his grave site.
1.0 - Dr. James Wellington Crane - PersonalHistory
1.1 - Birth and His Parents
James Wellington Crane, son of Edwin R. Crane and Mary Anne (Cutler) Crane, was born on
March 31, 1877, in the village or Orwell, Ontario. He came from a pioneer family of Elgin
County, his maternal grandparents having been married by Colonel Thomas Talbot, founder of
the Talbot settlement. It is no know how long the family stayed in the area of Orwell.
1.2 - Schooling
J.W. Crane attended high school at the St. Thomas Collegiate Institute in the town of St.
Thomas, Ontario, and upon graduation attended the University of Toronto, where he was
awarded an MB degree in 1898. After graduating he returned to Southwestern Ontario where
he set up in medical practice. It should be noted that at that time in the history of Canada, a
medical doctorate (or MD) was not needed to practice medicine, and that an MB was
considered to be sufficient.
1.3 - Family
As mentioned, Dr. Crane’s maternal grandparents were married by Colonel Talbot. His own
parents were Edwin R. Crane and Mary Anne (Cutler) Crane. They ran a match factory in
Orwell, Ontario. When the factory burnt down (date unknown), Edwin and Mary Crane started a
general store, also in Orwell. Dr. Crane was one of five children born to Edwin and Mary Crane.
The eldest of these was Laura Crane, born in 1860, who married and became Laura Evans.
Charlie and Fred were his brothers. Fred was born in 1883 and was the youngest of the Crane
children. Fred ran the family store after Edwin Crane’s death in 1905. Charlie’s birth date is not
known, and as a result it is unknown if he was older or younger than Dr. Crane. Charlie worked
on the railroad. Dr. Crane also had a sister, again unknown if she was younger or older, and

2. her name is unknown. However, it is known is that she was born crippled and passed away at
the age of ten.
In 1900, Dr. Crane was practicing medicine in Wallacetown. One of the other doctors in
Wallacetown was Doctor Daniel S. McColl. Among his children he had a daughter, Mary, born
in 1874. On July 30, 1908, Mary E. McColl married Dr. James Wellington Crane. Very little is
known about either their relationship or Mary E. McColl herself. One fact that is known about
Mary Crane is that she was an avid clock collector. Mary passed away on Saturday, August 23,
1952, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in London Ontario, and Dr. Crane was at her side. The funeral
service was held at the A. Millard George Funeral Home, and she was buried at the McColl
Cemetery located 1.8 kilometers west of Eagle, Ontario. It should be mentioned that the McColl
Cemetery was the family burial site of the McColl family. The entries in Dr. Crane’s journal
make occasional reference to members of the McColl family being buried there.
One of the more puzzling facts about Dr. Crane’s journals or his history is that there is no
mention of children. It is known that at one point in time Mary was pregnant with twins. They
were buried unnamed in the McColl Cemetery, with the date of death being noted as December
29, 1914. It has been suggested by surviving family members that they children were either
stillborn, or passed away shortly after birth.
1.4 - 871 Hellmuth Street & Kelligrew
Dr. Crane was relatively stable in his residences over the years. Between his graduation from
the University of Toronto in 1898, and his starting to teach at the University of Western Ontario,
he lived in Mitchell for one year, Iona for one year, and Wallacetown for twelve years. After that
he moved to London in the fall of 1912 after prompting from Dr. John A. Macgregor, a friend and
fellow doctor. He rented a home on Queen’s Avenue in London and started his own practice.
However, he had hardly started practicing when he was given a full-time appointment as
lecturer on therapeutics at the University of Western Ontario in February 1913. In 1914 he
bought the property at 871 Hellmuth Avenue in London, Ontario (see Appendix D).
Dr. Crane kept this property until his death in 1959, when it was bequeathed to Mrs. Helen J.
Pringle, his wife’s niece. This property is now listed as a London Heritage Site. Further
investigation revealed that the current inhabitants of this property is a professor of the University
of Western Ontario and his family. It is not known if this property is owned by the University of
Western Ontario, but it is possible to draw a conclusion that since a professor currently lives
there, this property may be owned by the University of Western Ontario.
The other property that figured prominently in the life of Dr. Crane was his home outside Iona
Station. A portion of this property is now the Crane Conservation Area. In a journal entry dated
July 12, 1932, Dr. Crane wrote: “I feel now that I would like to buy 5 acres of unimproved land
and improve it rather than buy an improved place.” Four years later Dr. Crane purchased this
type of land just outside Iona Station. He named this property Kelligrew, which is of Cornish
origin and means “Crane’s Grove”. He started his arboretum planting plan in 1938.
Kelligrew became the summer residence of Dr. and Mrs. Crane, and was often visited by his
current and former students, as well as Dr. Crane’s professional colleagues.
One interesting journal entry in 1950 comparing the pros and cons of both 871 Hellmuth Street
and Kelligrew is repeated in the following.

3. London vs. Kelligrew
A week at Kelligrew, then to London.
1. Hotter upstairs at 871
2. Noisier - Strange! I never noticed the noise in contrast before.
3. Electric refrigerator at Kelligrew.
4. Peaches and Harvest apples at Kelligrew.
5. Delightful under maple tree in front lawn.
6. Only place to entertain friends
7. Never more attractive; cedar hedge, flowers, green lawn.
Week at Kelligrew
Cooler nights than at 871.
More trucks, trains at 6 & 7 am.
Dr. Crane was comfortable at 871 Hellmuth Street. It was after all very close to the University of
Western Ontario. But it seems that Dr. Crane’s heart was truly given to Kelligrew. This property
was bequeathed to his nephew, E.Arthur Crane.
1.5 - The Passing of Dr. Crane
In the London Free Press on November 3, 1959, there was an article on the passing of Doctor
James Wellington Crane. It is part read; “Dr. J.W. Crane, one time acting dean of the University
of Western Ontario’ school of Medicine, professor of pharmacology, and former director of the
UWO alumni, died this morning in the St. Thomas General Hospital following a series of
illnesses that placed him on the critical list two weeks ago. He was 82.” The passing of Dr.
Crane did not really seem to come as a surprise to anyone. He was 82 at the time of his death
and has outlived his wife, Mary E. (McColl) Crane, and survived two infant sons, and had
outlived his parents and siblings. The article mentions that Dr. Crane was survived by four
nieces, and three nephews. Of these seven relatives, two were still alive at the time of this
report.
While it is difficult to draw a conclusion from it, it should be noted that on March 21, 1959, Dr.
Crane had his will redrafted.
The service for Dr. Crane was held at the A. Millard George funeral home and was conducted
by the Elder George Rustin of Dutton. (It is interesting to note that the same funeral home,
same official, and same cemetery were used for Dr. Crane as had been used for his wife Mary
Crane.) Following the ceremony Dr. Crane’s body was transported to Toronto where it was
cremated at the Toronto Crematorium. The remains were then interred at the McColl Cemetery
with his wife’s remains, and in the McColl family plot.
2.0 - Dr. James Wellington Crane - ProfessionalHistory
2.1 - Medical Practice

4. Upon his graduating from the University f Toronto, Dr. Crane returned to southwestern Ontario
to practice. He practiced in Mitchell for one year under the tutelage of an unknown doctor,
moved to Iona where he practiced for another year, this time on his own, and the finally moved
to Wallacetown where he maintained a practice for twelve years. As previously mentioned, he
then traveled to London where he again set up practice, but this was short lived as he was soon
asked to teach at the University of Western Ontario. Dr. Crane did attend a number of seminars
over that time frame in which he upgraded his skills.
After starting to reach at the University of Western Ontario, it appears that his private practice
died off. It is unknown whether this was by plan or necessity, but his journals have very little
mention of any type of medical practice in the later years of his life.
2.2 - His Teaching Years at the Universityof Western Ontario
In February of 1913, Dr. Crane was given a full time appointment as lecturer on therapeutics. In
1914, he was promoted to Professor of Pharmacology, the first head of that department,
apparently based mostly on the fact that he had published a few papers on this subject. Dr.
Crane’s lectures became legendary, but not for the scientific content, but rather for his personal
eccentricities.
Much of the lecture time was spent talking about the great medical men of the
past and instilling into the students certain precepts that he felt would be helpful
in their careers. He stressed the necessity of hard work, advised keeping
records of anything important on epitome cards, and encouraged publication of
papers. Graduates remember most vividly his insistence on the necessity to
“observe”; to put the point across questions such as “How many steps are there
at the front entrance?” appeared with exasperating frequency on pharmacology
tests. To use Dr. Crane’s oft-repeated motto, he taught students to “work,
observe, think and record”. A Century of Medicine at Western (Barr, 1977)
It should also be noted that Dr. Crane served as the dean of the University of Western Ontario’s
medical school from 1927 until 1929. Dr. Crane retired from teaching in 1934 to devote himself
full time to alumni work
2.3 - Alumni Director at the Universityof Western Ontario
Dr. Crane’s interest in his students was always a personal one. Students would come to him
with personal or financial problems, and Dr. Crane was almost always willing to help, either with
a friendly ear, or a loan out of his personal funds. (It should also be noted that this philanthropic
ideology by Dr. Crane was not limited to his students. During the years he lived at Kelligrew
there was a primary school across the road. Dr. Crane made a point of telling the teachers that
if they had students who needed glasses, or if their families were in financial trouble, that he
should be notified, and that he would help.)
His interest in students extended to their subsequent careers, leading to work with
alumni. There was no systematic record of graduates before Dr. Crane began to
track them down after the war, and he had an almost complete list of living
graduates, with their whereabouts and what they were doing by the mid 1920’s.
With a mailing list at hand Dr. Crane organized a Medical Alumni Association in

5. 1927 and started the Medical Alumni Bulletin; issued regularly for about twenty-five
years, the Bulletin was followed by the Alumni Gazette, a publication for all
Faculties. His interest in alumni was personal; as he heard of children coming
along they were registered - unofficially, needless to say - as medical students
some twenty years hence. This created occasional problems in subsequent years,
because the number of applications greatly exceeded the number of places
available and selection had to be based almost entirely on academic records. A
few parents pointed out, with indignation, that a son or daughter not accepted had
been promised admission years ago by Dr. Crane. A Century of Medicine at
Western (Barr, 1977)
Dr. Crane became the assistant director for medical alumni of the University of Western Ontario
Alumni Association in 1929. In 1924 he became the director of the UWO Alumni Association
and finally retired from active alumni work in 1947.
It is interesting to note that the probable reason for his retirement was a car accident on
November 9, 1948, at the corner of Victoria Avenue and Wellington Road in London, Ontario.
Dr. Crane was on his way to a football game in Toronto when his car was struck at that
intersection. As a result of this Dr. Crane spent a little over two weeks in the hospital.
3.0 - Outside Interests
While it is known that Dr. Crane was interested in a wide variety of things, it is not really known
how he became interested in these hobbies. However, his view on having a hobby, or hobbies,
were stated in a speech delivered to the Chatham Rotary Club on December 2, 1942. This
information was reported the following day in the Chatham News. It read;
Believes In Hobbies
Dr. Crane is a strong believer in hobbies, and he believes that
every man and woman should have somesuch interest outside of his
or her regular activities, through which interest may be engendered
when they are too old to work, or when financial successes permit
them to retire from the grind of daily work. Hobbies, he declared,
assist in lengthening life and at the same time they assist to make
that life all the more interesting and pleasant.
3.1 - Crane’s Grove - Kelligrew
It is unknown where Dr. Crane’s interest in the conservation of land came from. In a journal
entry dated March 12, 1940, Dr. Crane wrote; “Perhaps a cultural course on Conservation at
UWO?”. His major achievement in this area was what is now known as the Crane Conservation
Area. From his planting diary, and the diary of his gardener, it is obvious that he had a specific
plan in mind when he was planting the arboretum. These two diaries record the specific
planting that occurred, the subsequent lose of trees to natural causes, and the transplants that
he undertook.
In The Chatham News dated December 3, 1942, there is an article on and address that Dr.
Crane gave to the Chatham Rotary Club on December 2 of that year. It reads in part;

6. Trees His Hobby
Dr. Crane’s hobby - or at least one of them - is the collection of
trees, and he has no less that 85 or 90 different varieties of trees on
the farm where he is now living retired. Some of these trees were
secured from Kent County. For instance, Douglas Lake presented
him with a Paw Paw tree; and he also secured a Sassafras tree from
Dr. Bartlett of Bothwell, a dogwood tree from Dr. Walker of
Thamesville.
Trees on a farm attract birds, and so to encourage the birds to
come the doctor has installed a lily pond on his farm, containing
goldfish.
Dr. Crane has a total of about 7,000 trees on his farm near Iona,
and it is one of the show places of the country for those interested in
horticultural pursuits.
As mentioned, Dr. Crane obtained this property in 1936 and started planting there in 1938. In
1955 he sold a portion of this property to the University of Western Ontario with the stipulation
that be used as a demonstration woodlot, and as a park.
3.2 - Crane the Bibliophile
Another aspect that is not well known about Dr. Crane was his avid interest in collecting books.
Through discriminative purchased, usually of second-hand books, he built up an
extensive personal library that consisted mainly of works on medical history. He
gave his books away freely, often to students as prizes or on some pretext or
another. About 1,000 books were given to the Medical School Library during Dr.
Crane’s life-time; he gave money from time to time to buy historical books; and
hundred more were bequeathed to the Library, all these forming a substantial
portion of the present holdings on the history of medicine. A Century of Medicine
at Western (Barr, 1977)
In his will Dr. Crane bequeathed a number of books to Dr. W.W.Priddle, a close friend of Dr.
Crane. Dr. Priddle took these books and used them to form the nucleus of the library at the
Geriatric Study Centre in Toronto. This library is known as the J.W. Crane Memorial Library.
3.3 - Clubs and Societies
Dr. Crane was also actively involved in a number of clubs and societies in and around the
London area. The first of these was the Harvey club. In 1918, several area doctors asked Dr.
Crane to give a refresher course. Dr. Crane agreed to this and gave two lectures. Following
the conclusion of the second lecture, Dr. Spence suggested that those present constitute the
charter members of a club. It was agreed and the Harvey Club, probably named after Sir
William Harvey who discovered the circulation of blood, was formed.
Another group that Dr. Crane was closely associated with was the Osler Society. Formed in
1927, it was essentially an honour society, in that membership consisted of four students from
each class who were selected on the basis of high academic standing. The stated aim of the

7. Osler Society was “to foster the study of Sir William Osler, medical history, and other cultural
subjects”.
Dr. Crane also organized weekly sing-songs for the medical students and nursing students of
the Faculty of Public Health starting in 1927. This eventually gave rise to the Meds
Merrymakers.
In 1934, Dr. Crane founded the Noon-Day Study Club, an organization which met weekly in the
Y.M.C.A. for over twenty years. The membership consisted of physicians in London and
surrounding districts, one of who would give an after luncheon talk on a medical subject.
The current status of the organizations is unknown. It is interesting to note that these clubs all
revolved around the medical aspects of Dr. Crane’s life, and that there is no mention of his
being involved in any organization related to his other interest.
4.0 - Memorials
4.1 - Crane Conservation Area
4.1.1 - History of the Crane C.A.
Dr. James Wellington Crane planted somewhere between 85 to 90 different species of trees on
a plot of land adjacent to his home in Iona Station. In 1955 this property was presented to the
University of Western Ontario Board of Governors for a fee of $1.00. In 1961, just over a year
after Dr. Crane’s death, the Board of Governors transferred the property to the Corporation of
the County of Elgin for a fee of $1.00, with the intention that thereafter the property be
maintained as a demonstration woodlot, as a park, and “as a memorial to a distinguished native
son”. In 1976 the corporation of the County of Elgin sold the property to the Lower Thames
Valley Conservation Authority (LTVCA) for $1.00. In 1978 Rose Klinkenberg presented a
proposal to the LTVCA for this site, suggesting that the site be used as a mini-arboretum and
picnic area. No known action was taken on that proposal. In 1984 a Master Plan was
constructed for this site, once again suggesting that the LTVCA establish an arboretum site with
picnic facilities. Again, no known action was taken on this proposal. In July 1996, the Lower
Thames Valley Conservation Authority’s Restructuring Committee determined that his property
(among others) was deemed surplus and should be disposed of in some manner. To date
nothing has been done to sell or dispose of this land.
4.1.2 - Description of the Crane C.A.
The Crane Conservation Area is one of the smallest of the Authority’s land holdings, occupying
approximately 3.2 hectares (8 acres) of Lot One, Fifth Concession, Southwold Township, Elgin
County. Access is available only from Elgin County Road 14.
The property is largely unused except for access by Union Gas to its regulator station in the
northwest corner of the site, accessible by an existing service road. An existing fence across
the front of the property by the road discourages most people from entering the conservation
area. This fence was slated for removal in 1984/1985, but this was never accomplished. All
neighboring land adjacent to the property is farmland. On the east boundary of the property is a

8. farmhouse while on the west boundary is a barn yard. A concrete and stone monument giving
the history of the property until 1961 is located near the road, 10 metres inside the lot line. This
monument is located approximately 50 meters southeast from the entrance gate, and is difficult
to reach due to no clear pathway being present. The monument reads;
The James Wellington Crane Memorial Park
The pleasant woodlot of Canadian trees located on this property
was planted by the late Dr. James Wellington Crane prior to his
retirement from the medical faculty of the University of Western
Ontario after a brilliant and lengthy career as teacher, researcher,
medical alumni director, and acting dean.
In 1955, the woodlot and adjacent land were presented to the
University by Dr. Crane. In 1961, the entire property was
transferred by the board of governors of the University of Western
Ontario to the corporation of the County of Elgin to be maintained
thereafter as a demonstration woodlot, as a park, and as a
memorial to a distinguished native son.
Erected in 1961
The existing growth at the Crane Conservation Area consists of at least six Carolinian species,
with two of these species being considered rare in Ontario. Additional species present include
Black Poplar, White Ash, Silver Maple, Eastern White Cedar and Norway Spruce.
4.2 - J.W. Crane Memorial Library
As mentioned earlier, Dr. Crane bequeathed 200 books to Dr. W.W.Priddle. Dr. Pridle then took
those books and used them to form the nucleus of the J.W. Crane Memorial Library at the
Geriatric Study Centre in Toronto. As the Crane Conservation Area reflects Dr. Crane’s interest
in the environment, the J.W. Crane Memorial Library reflects his interest in books
5.0 - Degrees
Dr. Crane was awarded an MB upon graduation from the University of Toronto in 1898. While it
is unknown exactly what this degree stood for, it was considered to be the minimal level
necessary to practice medicine. In 1947, shortly after his retirement from the Alumni
Association, Dr. Crane was granted an honourary LL.D., or honourary doctorate of Law degree
from the University of Western Ontario. Finally, in 1948 Dr. Crane was granted his MD, or
medical doctorate degree also from the University of Western Ontario. It is not known whether
this final degree was considered to be honourary, or if Dr. Crane was considered to have
earned that degree.