Biography:

Half of a husband and wife doctor team, Dr. Anna Bella (Beattie) Hardman was born in Guelph, Ontario on the 25th of April, 1906.  Dr. Hardman’s parents were Walter Hammond Beattie and the former Tena Thatcher.  According to her parents 1905 marriage record, Mr. Beattie lived with his parents in Ridgetown and Tena Margaret Thatcher lived with her parents in Ridgetown.  According to the 1901 census, her father Walter worked as a drug clerk (pharmacist).  Dr. Hardman had a younger brother named Bruce Thatcher Beattie and 2 younger sisters, Mary Tena Beattie and Martha Beattie.  In 1910 Dr. Hardman and her family resided at 116 Suffolk Street in Guelph, Ontario.

According to the 1921 census, the Beattie family lived at 67 London Road in Guelph.   Dr. Hardman graduated from Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute in 1926.   She attended The University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine where she met her future husband, Dr. William Nelson Hardman, who was a fellow medical student.  She graduated M.D. in 1931 and received her B.SC. (Bacteriology) in 1932.

Dr. Hardman married Dr. William Hardman in Guelph on the 29th of June, 1932.  He was born in Hamilton, Ontario on the 26th of March, 1906.  Dr. William Hardman was the 3rd of 4 children born to William Hardman and the former Georgina Alice Feaver.  His father worked in the textile mill at Hamilton and his siblings were; Leslie Hardman, Wilfred Stewart Hardman and Georgina Alice Isabel Hardman.  In 1912 the Hardman family resided at 116 Simcoe Street East in Hamilton.

Dr. William Hardman and Dr. Anna Hardman had 3 children. A daughter named Jane Anna Hardman and two sons, William Hardman and Nathaniel Hardman (who died as a young child).

Dr. Hardman joined her husband in general practice in Chatham between 1932-1943.  According to the 1941 Shepherds City of Chatham Business Directory, Dr. Anna Hardman and Dr. William Hardman’s offices were located at 42 Sixth Street.

Dr. William Hardman enlisted in the Navy on the 12th of June, 1942.  While he was away serving his country, Dr. Anna Hardman took over her husband’s medical practice.

After her husbands discharge, Dr. and Dr. Hardman moved to Rochester, Minnesota in 1943. She held a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic from 1944 to 1946.  (It should be noted that Dr. William Hardman held a fellowship in anesthesiology at the Mayo Clinic.  In 1946 he obtained a Masters of Sc. from the University of Minnesota.)

Dr. William Hardman pursued a teaching career at Creighton University and became Chief of Anesthesiology at St Joseph’s Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska.  They moved to London, Ontario in 1948, where Dr. William Hardman became a lecturer at the University of Western Ontario.

Dr. William Hardman died at St Joseph’s Hospital in London on the 28th of May, 1952. He was buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Guelph.  Dr. Anna Hardman continued to practice as an aestheticist in London, following her husband’s death. Dr. Anna Hardman was an avid bridge player, but stated that her hobbies were, “ my work, my children and my grandchildren”.

Dr. Anna Bella Hardman died on the 22nd of April, 2000 and she was also buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Guelph.

*Dr. William Hardman also appears on the Chatham-Kent Physician Tribute website.