County of Brant Public Library Digital Collections

Dr. Courtland Casimer Fissette, England 1917

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Media Type

Image

Text

Item Type

Photographs

Description

2017EG002.002: Black and white photograph of six medical staff, five men and one female nurse, wearing long white jackets, standing around an operating table layered with white sheets. The group is inside a building with large windows in the background, which are presumably the buildings depicted in 2017EG003 and 2017EG002.007.

Dr. Courtland Casimer Fissette is on the far left, wearing a white jacket and dark gloves, and is standing behind the operating table.

Photograph is captioned “Dad Operating 1917”.

2017EG002.003: Hand tinted photograph depicting green fields of either crops or grasses in the foreground, trees in the background, and a blue sky. There are six identifiable light-coloured buildings on the right with another indistinguishable group of white buildings in the background, suggested to be the hospital where Fissette worked. Two men in uniform are walking along a road beside the white buildings.

Photograph is captioned “England 1917”.

2017EG002.007: Black and white photograph with grass in the foreground, and the same light-coloured buildings with several large windows depicted in 2017EG002.003. There is an ambulance (a truck with the Red Cross symbol of a red cross on a white circular background) waiting in front of the doorway, and a pile of material to the left near the end of the building.

Photograph is captioned “England 1917”.

Notes

Courtland Casimir Fissette was born on 4 June 1875 to Thomas and Mary J. [Oversholt] Fissette in Nanticoke, Haldimand County. The French Canadian family lived in Walpole, Haldimand when Courtland was a child, and moved to Brantford during his teenage years. He married Anna Margaret Wisner (born 6 November 1876) on 4 November 1904 in Brant County, and the couple lived at 110 Darling Street in Brantford. Courtland was a physician and surgeon, and ran a general practice out of his home. The house is now the parking lot for the Charlotte Villa Retirement Residence.

He served at a base hospital in London, England with the Royal Army Medical Corps from 26 April 1916 to July 1917. While serving overseas, he wrote a letter to the editor of the Brantford Expositor titled “Come on Boys! An Appeal.” Dated 23 June 1916, the letter described the ‘diminishing memory’ of Decoration Day and the need to remember and preserve the sacrifices made by Canadians during the country’s formative years, which led to the current [1916] prosperity and privilege. In order to preserve “These fair streets, this well-ordered civilization, this splendid commerce, this abundance of work with liberal pay, the security which surrounds our home, the school that educates our child, the right to come and go at will…” he urged men to join the war effort. Fissette also supported the implementation of a selective conscription instead of a general one, and encouraged filling shop positions with women. He remarks, “What is the use of taking men from the shops and putting them in uniform without munitions?”

On 15 August 1917, he volunteered and served as a Captain in the Canadian Army Medical Corps of the Canadian Expeditionary Force working in Canada. He was “struck off the strength” on 6 November 1918 to return to the active militia.

While acting as the local coroner, Dr. Fissette testified at a case that a murder committed near Mohawk Lake must have been performed by a butcher due to the bone analysis.

Later, the Fissette’s moved in with their only child, Courtland Sheldon (born June 1907) at 28 Brant Avenue, next to the armouries in Brantford. Courtland Sheldon married Mary Kathleen Welsh, widow of RCAF F/O John “Jack” Chapple Tate, who died in a flying accident near Chandler, Quebec in October 1942.

Courtland Casimer suddenly died on 19 April 1931 as a result of a heart attack at the age of 55. The family was Methodist and attended the Zion Presbyterian Church in Brantford.

For more information, visit the External Links.

Date Of Event

1917

Subject(s)

Military
First World War
Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC)
Canadian Army Medical Corps

Personal Name(s)

Fissette, Dr. Courtland Casimer

Local identifier

2017EG002.002; 2017EG002.003 2017EG002.007

Language of Item

English

Geographic Coverage

Brantford

Ontario, Canada

Latitude: 43.1334 Longitude: -80.26636
London

England, United Kingdom

Latitude: 51.50842 Longitude: -0.12553

Donor

M. Eleanor (Tate) Gloster

Creative Commons licence

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Copyright Statement

Copyright status unknown. Responsibility for determining the copyright status and any use rests exclusively with the user.

Recommended Citation

Dr. Courtland Casimer Fissette, England 1917. M. Eleanor Gloster, 2017EG002.002; 2017EG002.003; 2017EG002.007.

Terms of Use

The information and images provided are for personal research only and are not to be used for commercial purposes. Use of this information should include the credit "County of Brant Public Library".

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