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Frederick Banting
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== Early life == [[File:Banting birthplace (30169914253).jpg|thumb|left|The Banting farm in [[Essa Township|Essa Township, Ontario]], is preserved under the [[Ontario Heritage Act]], with a commemorative plaque from the government|245x245px]] Banting was born on November 14, 1891, in his family's farmhouse in [[Essa, Ontario]], two miles from nearby [[Alliston]].{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=15}} He was the youngest of five children of William Thompson Banting, a farmer in [[Tecumseh, Ontario|Tecumseh]], and Margaret Grant, the daughter of a [[Mill (grinding)|mill]] manager. The Bantings were a financially stable family of British and [[Northern Irish]] origin.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=16}} Banting's distant relative, the London-based undertaker [[William Banting]], popularised a weight-loss diet in 1864, and the word "Banting" entered the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' as its description.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=18}} His mother's relatives, the Grants, were of [[Scottish people|Scottish]] descent.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=16}} With his family being located within a secure rural community, Banting was raised in prosperous circumstances.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=18}} He was often called "Fred" or "Freddie."{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=16}} Farm life largely defined most of his boyhood. He felt excluded from his siblings, all multiple years his senior, and recalled that "my older brothers could not be bothered with me for the most part."{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=19}} When he began schooling at the age of seven in Alliston, Banting was a shy, asocial boy who tired of the attendance and was bullied frequently.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=19–20}} Early difficulties with spelling ensured poor marks in exams: "I simply could not spell. Every word seemed to have about three ways of spelling. It was a guess and I invariably guessed wrong."{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=20}} He later attributed these experiences as being the product of an [[inferiority complex]].{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=20}} During his childhood, Banting devoted himself to farmwork, grew close with his mother, and sympathised with animals in the absence of other company.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=19, 21}} Marion Walwyn, a cousin who first met Banting in 1901, recalled that "we sat together in the swing in our yard. In an hour he didn't say one word."{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=20–21}} He continued to struggle in school and stubbornly resisted being disciplined there. After one incident, he resolved never to continue his education but was convinced otherwise by his father.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=22}} Banting's grandfather, John Banting, had urged his own children to be educated; the philosophy had influenced William, who offered to provide a fund to his sons when they turned twenty-one. In contrast to his brothers, who spent the inheritance towards their own farms, Frederick would use it towards matriculation.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=23}} In his late teenage years, Banting grew into a tall man with engagements in school [[Canadian football|football]] and [[baseball]] teams. Both his mother and father hoped that he would find a vocation in the [[Methodism|Methodist]] ministry.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=24, 26}} He passed physics and chemistry during junior [[matriculation examination]]s in 1909, but repeated English and was required to undertake [[French language|French]] and [[Latin]]. The next year, he narrowly passed Latin but failed French and, for a second time, English composition. The principal later remembered his repeated efforts: "We would not have picked him for one on whom fame should settle. He was a white boy, a right boy."{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=25–26}} <!-- {{multiple image | align = center | footer_align = center | direction = horizontal | width = | footer = | width1 = 167 | image1 = Insulin P10041 0001 (cropped).jpg | alt1 = | caption1 = The Banting family, {{c.}} 1893 | width2 = 422 | image2 = Banting birthplace (30169914253).jpg | alt2 = | caption2 = The Banting farm in [[Essa Township|Essa Township, Ontario]], is preserved under the [[Ontario Heritage Act]], with a commemorative plaque from the government | width3 = | image3 = | alt3 = | caption3 = }} --> {{multiple image | align = center | footer_align = center | direction = horizontal | width = | footer = | width1 = 139 | image1 = Insulin P10041 0001 (cropped).jpg | alt1 = | caption1 = The Banting children, {{c.}} 1893 | width2 = 283 | image2 = Frederick_and_Thompson_Banting_c._1900.jpg | alt2 = | caption2 = Banting (left), aged 9 or 10, and his brother, Thompson, {{c.}} 1900 | width3 = | image3 = | alt3 = | caption3 = }} === College and service years === Banting finally passed examinations in July 1910. He stated on his application to university that he wished to be a teacher, although he also harbored aspirations of becoming a doctor.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=26}} He toured the [[Canadian West]] for the summer, traveling to [[Winnipeg]] and [[Calgary]], before enrolling at the [[University of Toronto]], where he entered the General Arts course at [[Victoria College, Toronto|Victoria College]].{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=27–28}} Despite hard work, Banting failed his first year, but decided to become a doctor and returned to repeat the year. He petitioned to join the medical program in February 1912 and was accepted.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=28–29}} In September, he dropped out of Victoria College to begin medical school at the University of Toronto.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=30}} Banting established himself in medical school by working diligently. His roommate, Sam Graham, remembered him for studying late into the night. Besides being a successful [[Rugby football|rugby]] player, however, he was otherwise undistinguished. His grades—now without the burden of language courses—saw a marked improvement, averaging approximately a B, an above-average score. Summers were spent returning to work at the farm.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=32–33}} At Toronto's [[University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine|Faculty of Medicine]], Banting specialised in surgery.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=Biography of Sir Frederick Grant Banting (1891-1941) |url=https://insulin.library.utoronto.ca/about/banting |access-date=2024-02-24 |website=The Discovery and Early Development of Insulin – [[University of Toronto Libraries]] |publisher=[[University of Toronto]]}}</ref> At the onset of [[World War I]], Banting, along with most Canadian men, sought to enlist in the army. He attempted to enter the [[Canadian Expeditionary Force]] on August 16, 1914, the day after Canada's [[Canada in World War I|declaration of war]], and then again in October, but was refused twice due to poor vision. In his third year of medical school Banting successfully joined the [[Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps]] in 1915 and was commissioned a [[Private (rank)|private]], then promoted to sergeant. He trained at a camp at [[Niagara Falls]] for the summer before his fourth year of school. The university accelerated the class by condensing the fifth year of medical school during the summer of 1916.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=33–34}} The curriculum placed more emphasis on [[surgical procedure]] and trauma; a lecture dedicated to the treatment of diabetes derived itself from [[Frederick Madison Allen]] of the [[Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research|Rockefeller Institute]], who recommended that diabetics be placed on a [[starvation diet]] for minimum [[metabolization]].{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=34–35}} Banting's fourth year was committed to clinical work at [[Toronto General Hospital]]. Under the guidance of Clarence L. Starr, the chief surgeon at the [[Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto)|Hospital for Sick Children]], Banting gained training as an undergraduate [[Pre-registration house officer|house surgeon]]. By 1915, he had definitively resolved to practice surgery, performing his first operation—the drainage of a soldier's [[abscess]]—next winter.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=35–36}} On December 9, 1916, Banting graduated with his [[Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery|Bachelor of Medicine]] (M.B.) and reported for military duty the next day.<ref name=":7" /> After being promoted to lieutenant, he sailed from [[Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax]] to Britain on March 26, 1917. Shortly before departing he became engaged to Edith Roach, whom he met in 1911.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=29, 36}} Starr, an [[orthopedist]] who enlisted in 1916, had been impressed by Banting's work as an undergraduate and requested that he join him at the Granville Canadian Special Hospital in [[Ramsgate, Kent]]. On May 2, 1917, Banting assumed a position as Starr's assistant.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=37}} For thirteen months, Banting assisted Starr, a pioneer of nerve [[suturing]], at Granville Hospital. He oversaw 125 patients and refused to levy a fee for extra services: "it gives me a certain amount of pleasure to be able to help them which repays me in a way that money never could."{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=37–38}} After some study, he gained certification in [[obstetrics]] and [[gynaecology]], and was transferred to serve in France, arriving in June 1918. Banting's first encounter with medical service came on August 8 at the [[Battle of Amiens (1918)|Battle of Amiens]]. Several days were spent tending to and dressing the wounded on the front lines, in effect, as a [[general practitioner]]. In the lull between battles, Banting developed his knowledge of anatomy. Eager to see more active combat, he hoped to be deployed to [[Siberia]] with the [[Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force]].{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=38–39}} The 44th Battalion, [[4th Canadian Division]], where Banting served, were engaged at the [[Battle of Cambrai (1918)|Battle of Cambrai]] in 1918. He witnessed much of the battle's brutality. When a German entered his [[aid post]], Banting's life was saved by a patient, an amputee sergeant, who shot the soldier at the post's door. Later, Banting was struck by shrapnel from an exploding shell, ultimately ending his frontline duty. He wished to remain in battle to continue treating the wounded but his superior, Major L.C. Palmer, insisted otherwise. For his valour, Palmer would recommend Banting to be decorated.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=40–41}} Banting was awarded the [[Military Cross]] owing to his "exceptional bravery while attending the wounded under fire."{{Sfn|Best|1942|p=21}} Banting returned to Canada after the war and went to Toronto to complete his surgical training.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=44}} In 1918, he was awarded the license to practise medicine, surgery, and midwifery by the Royal College of Physicians of London.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Royal College of Physicians of London |date=July 25, 1918 |title=Certificate granting F.G. Banting license to practice medicine, surgery, and midwifery. |url=https://insulin.library.utoronto.ca/islandora/object/insulin%3AA10007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731230351/https://insulin.library.utoronto.ca/islandora/object/insulin%3AA10007 |archive-date=July 31, 2020 |website=University of Toronto Libraries}}</ref> He studied [[Orthopedic surgery|orthopedic]] medicine and, in 1919–1920, was Resident Surgeon at [[The Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto)|The Hospital for Sick Children]]. Banting was unable to gain a place on the hospital staff and so he decided to move to [[London, Ontario]], to set up a medical practice. From July 1920 to May 1921, he continued his general practice, while teaching orthopedics and [[anthropology]] part-time at the [[University of Western Ontario]] in London because his medical practice had not been particularly successful.{{Sfn|Bliss|1992|p=48}} From 1921 to 1922 he lectured in [[pharmacology]] at the University of Toronto. He received his M.D. degree in 1922,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://insulin.library.utoronto.ca/islandora/object/insulin%3AA10009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731203233/https://insulin.library.utoronto.ca/islandora/object/insulin%3AA10009|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 31, 2020|title=Certificate from the University of Toronto granting F. G. Banting the degree of M.D.|last=University of Toronto|date=June 9, 1922|website=University of Toronto Libraries}}</ref> and was also awarded a gold medal.<ref name="Nobel">{{Nobelprize|accessdate=April 30, 2020}}</ref>
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