WILFRED GRENFELL: His Life and Work

Born of a privileged English family, son of a classical scholar, Sir Wilfred Grenfell, even as a small boy, was intrigued by the life of the fishermen who lived in his native Parkgate. When his father suddenly uprooted the family and moved to a slum section of England, once again the young Grenfell was catapulted out of his class. With such a background it was inevitable that the young doctor should choose as his life companions those men, who under the cruelest physical circumstances, hazarded the waters of the north sea for its bounty of valuable fish. An exceedingly vigorous man, Grenfell was a devoted Christian but did not allow denominational politics to restrict his work. His founding of non-denominational schools in Labrador brought down fierce criticism on him from his own and Catholic churchmen, and, when his brilliant diplomacy won him the position of Lloyd's representative, he once again incurred jealous antagonism. A man of intense energy, Grenfell's work in Labrador was religious devotion and humanism translated into concrete terms, as this highly documented biography goes far to illustrate. For those readers with a particular interest in medical missionary work, in the Labrador locale, and for those who have read Sir Wilfred Grenfell's own account of his life and work, a revealing study.