Numbers, Alexander Anderson

Dr. Alexander Anderson Numbers was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland in 1897, to father Andrew Numbers and mother Margaret Thomson Numbers. He emigrated to Canada with his family at the age of 15 and enlisted in the army in 1916 during the Frist World War, serving in France as a stenographer for three and a half years. Coming back from the war in 1919, he spent five years attending night school at Hamilton Collegiate Institute while at the same time working as a stenographer and a bookkeeper during the day. Dr. Numbers studied medicine in the medical school at the University of Toronto from 1924 to 1930 and interned at the Hamilton General Hospital after graduation until September 1931, when he joined a practice in Ancaster and started his own business on King East a year later. During his years of medical practice, Dr. Numbers held posts as chief of medical staff at both the Hamilton Civic Hospitals and St. Peter’s Centre and was honoured by the Hamilton Academy of Medicine as one of the first two recipients of the first distinguished achievement award in recognition of his remarkable career and his leadership in developing the Academy’s archive and museum.

Dr. Numbers died in 1989.