Lenora King in China before Norman Bethune

Lenora King. née Howard. Born Farmersville (Athens), Upper Canada (Ontario). In order to study medicine she had to leave Canada to study at the University of Michigan Women's Medical College. With the support of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society she sailed to Shanghai in 1877, the first Canadian doctor to practice medicine in China. She was 60 years ahead of Dr. Norman Bethune. Dr King obtained the patronage of Lady Li, wife of the viceroy of Chilhli province in Tientsin. It was after she had attended Lady Li that she opened the first Chinese hospital for women and children. In 1884 she married a widowed Scottish missionary, the Reverend Alexander King. As a married woman she was expected to support the work of her husband, not work on her own. Lady Li opened a new hospital for Dr King in 1885, a hospital totally funded by the Chinese. In 1889 the Government of China recognized the distinguished doctor with the Imperial Chinese Order of the Double Dragon making her a Mandarin which is a similar to being a knight in England. In 1909 she organized the Government Medical School for Women so that Chinese doctors and nurses could be trained. She is a member of the Canadian Medicine Hall of Fame.