© 2025, Christian Cassidy
Here is more about Charlotte Elsie Galloway and her time in Winnipeg.
Bylaws of Toronto Orthopedic Hospital, ca. 1898
Charlotte Elsie Sanderson was born in Toronto in 1866 and grew up in Orillia Ontario where her father, Dr. G. W. Sanderson, practiced medicine. On August 29, 1898, she married Dr. Herbert P. H. Galloway, an orthopedic surgeon in Toronto.
The same year as their marriage, the Toronto Orthopedic Hospital was established at 12 Bloor Street East. It was said to be the first hospital in Canada "devoted exclusively to the treatment of the lame, crippled and deformed".
Dr. Galloway was one of two full-time associates at the new clinic, a converted house, and he and Charlotte moved into the adjoining residence at 14 Bloor Street East. Charlotte was a founding member of the hospital's ladies auxiliary.
During their time on Bloor Street, the Galloways had three children: a son who died in infancy and daughters Muriel, born in 1897, and Ivadele, born in 1898.
The couple moved to Winnipeg in 1905 so that Dr. Galloway could become the orthopedic surgeon for the Winnipeg General Hospital and the founding chairman of the Manitoba Medical College's department of orthopedics.
The family initially settled at 187 Balmoral Street and in 1907, rented the former A. E. Ham residence at 661 Broadway that they would go on to purchase in 1913.
The living arrangements were similar to Bloor Street with the house being both a family home and medical clinic. It was initially known as the Galloway Clinic and after a couple of extensions it became the Galloway - Gibson Clinic and eventually the Winnipeg Orthopedic Clinic. A separate building on Furby Street was the clinic's private hospital.
By 1918, the clinic had grown large enough that the family moved to 638 Wellington Crescent.
The 1911 and 1916 census records show that the Galloways had two live-in servants at the house and, as the girls grew older, Mrs. Galloway had more time to dedicate to important charitable causes.
A Winnipeg Tribune article noted that: "Mrs. Galloway, since coming to Winnipeg, has been identified with the most progressive philanthropic movements of her city."
January 30, 1922, Winnipeg Tribune
The organization was formed in 1908 to help establish and fund the provincial sanatorium at Ninette. After its construction in 1909, the society concerned itself with funding auxiliary items for patients, such as equipment and clothing.
One project Mrs. Galloway pushed for was the introduction of milk goats to the sanatorium. Goats took up less space than cows and would ensure the institution had a regular supply of nutritious milk. To prove that goats were well behaved and could be easily kept, she took two of them with her to the cottage in the summer of 1922 to look after.
In November 1922, the board agreed with her motion and goats were bought or the sanatorium.
Mrs. Galloway served for seven years as secretary and two years as president (1914-16) of the local chapter of the Council of Women. The formidable organisation, which had about 8,000 members at the time, was involved in the establishment of the Winnipeg Children's Hospital, kindergarten programs and playgrounds.
During Mrs.Galloway's time as president, the Council had many activities on the go.
A Bureau of Work for Women was established from September 1913 to February 1914 that matched up 700 women with employers. An advisory censorship committee was created to advise existing censors on the suitability of films as being "family-friendly". A fur drive collected old pelts and coats that were shipped to Italy, where women used them to create jacket linings for Italian troops fighting in the Alps.
There was also the 5,000 name petition submitted to the federal justice minister seeking to exonerate Jennie Hawkes. The Alberta woman shot to death a woman she believed was having an affair with her husband and was sentenced to hang in November 1915. The council argued that a man in the same situation would likely not face any punishment.
In the end, Jennie's sentence was commuted to ten years in prison, which was disappointing for the group, but they did help save her life.
Another group that Mrs. Galloway sat on the executive of and did extensive fundraising for was the Deaconess' Aid Society, a charity of the Methodist Church.
The society ran a maternity home on George Street for unwed mothers and other girls in trouble. It provided room, board, education, social activities and job training in the hopes that the women could lift themselves from poverty and not fall victim to prostitution.
January 15, 1917, Winnipeg Tribune
During the war, she was a member of the 203rd Battalion "Silver Lining" auxiliary that sewed and collected clothing and other items for members of the Winnipeg Rifles serving overseas and in POW camps.
Mrs. Galloway was honourary president of the Girls' Auxiliary of the Children's Hospital, a charter member of the Women's Canadian Club, and heavily involved with Broadway Methodist church. She once appeared before a civic committee advocating for the pasteurization of all milk sold in stores, and in June 1923 let her name appear in newspaper ads encouraging women to vote "no" in the upcoming referendum to end prohibition.
One newspaper article noted that "One of the chief interests of Mrs. Galloway was welcoming strangers to Canada. and Winnipeg in particular. She took particular delight in visiting them in their own homes and serving them in unobtrusive ways".
The years 1922 and 1923 were ones of great change for the Galloways.
According to the Winnipeg Tribune, Mrs. Galloway had a stay in General Hospital in March 1922 but was soon "making a rapid recovery at her Wellington Crescent home."
In April 1922, the couple traded their house on Wellington Crescent with that of J. L. Bathgate, of the Scott Bathgate Company, at 34 Carlton Street. This was a smaller house with a much smaller property and signified he semi-retirement of Dr. Galloway and the declining health of Mrs. Galloway.
At the Anti Tuberculosis Society's January 1923 annual meeting, Mrs. Galloway announced that she was stepping down as president of the organisation after six years. In April, she stepped away from the executive of the Council of Women.
Mrs. Galloway, along with her husband and daughter Muriel, went on a tour to southern California and Hawaii in February 1923 and returned in early April.
The final official act of Mrs. Galloway appears to have been her attendance at a meeting of the Council of Women in late April 1923 to discuss "the liquor question". She did not speak but had a seat at the head table as past president.
Charlotte Galloway died at the family home on Carlton Street on Sunday, July 8, 1923 at the age of 56.
A small funeral was held at the home two days later presided over by Reverend L. F. Dimmitt, pastor of Broadway Methodist Church, and a memorial service in her honour was held at the church the following week.
Galloway is buried in Elmwood Cemetery.
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