Charles Lightfoot Roman, MD, CM, surgeon, author, researcher, lecturer (born 19 May 1889 in Port Elgin, ON; died 8 June 1961 in Valleyfield, QC). Charles Lightfoot Roman was one of the first Black Canadians to graduate from McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine and became a recognized expert in industrial medicine. He was also one of the first Black Canadians to enlist for service in the First World War and was the only known Black person to serve with the Canadian General Hospital No. 3 (McGill).
Charles Lightfoot Roman was one of the original members of the Canadian General Hospital, No. 3 (McGill). When he enlisted on 18 February 1915, he became one of the first Canadian Blacks to sign up in the First World War and the only Black person known to have served with the CGH No. 3 (McGill). At the time he enlisted, Lightfoot Roman had finished only three of the five years required to complete his medical training at McGill, so he began his service as an orderly with the rank of Private.
On 6 May 1915, he boarded the RMS Metagama, bound for Europe. On board the ship was his future wife, nursing sister Jessie Middleton Sedgewick, who was also serving with CGH No. 3.
On 16 May 1915, the McGill hospital team arrived in Shorncliffe, England. About a month later, on 19 June 1915, they reached Dannes-Camiers, France, and began setting up camp. (Nursing Sister Sedgewick and the other nurses from Montréal assisted the Canadian General Hospital No. 1 near Étaples until their own unit became operational, about one month later.)
The CGH No. 3 operated in huge Durbar tents that had been shipped from India. Unfortunately, storms and floods battered the tents, causing many of them to leak, and during a later inspection a number of them were condemned. On 25 October, another storm tore through the facility, leaving many of the remaining tents in tatters. As a result, some of the staff were assigned to work at other stations and hospitals (this included Nursing Sister Sedgewick, who was temporarily reassigned to work with the CGH No. 1).
Ironically, Lightfoot Roman had spent most of his time in France until that point (from July to mid-October) sick in hospital. However, by the middle of October 1915 he had rejoined the CGH No. 3 as an orderly. Lightfoot Roman and the rest of the McGill medical team continued to work in Dannes-Camiers until January 1916, when they moved further north to Boulogne-sur-Mer on the coast of France. Here, the hospital was housed at the old Jesuit College — rather than operating in tents, the staff now worked in permanent or wooden structures. Lightfoot Roman would spend the rest of his time in France at Boulogne.
Lightfoot Roman’s future wife, Nursing Sister Sedgewick, also served at Boulogne with the CGH No. 3 from 14 February 1916 until 11 August 1917.
In 1919, Lightfoot Roman graduated as a Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery (MD, CM) from McGill University. He and Jessie Middleton Sedgewick married on 25 December 1920 and eventually settled in Valleyfield, Québec. The couple would have five sons — Charles, James, William Middleton, Robert and Stephen. Jessie Roman died 20 July 1958. In her memory, her husband commissioned a stained glass window to be mounted in the United Church attended by the family. Its inscription reads, “Her own works praise her in the gates” (Proverbs 31:31), a tribute to her dedication as a nurse and a mother. (In 2008, the church was converted to Le MUSO, a museum in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield. The window remains intact.).
In 1921, Lightfoot Roman became one of the first industrial medicine doctors in Québec when he took up a position as physician for Montreal Cottons Limited (a division of the Dominion Textile Company) in Valleyfield. His wife, Jessie, worked as a nurse alongside him. He eventually rose to the position of medical director for the entire corporation and remained at Dominion Textile for the rest of his career, retiring shortly before his death in 1961.
Extracted from The Canadian Encyclopedia
