Previously in this series, we wrote about the exploits of Cumberland’s first resident medical practitioner, Dr. James Ferguson, who served the community from 1865 until he passed away in 1921, and Eva Kennedy the registered nurse who succeeded him and served as the village’s chief medical practitioner until she retired in 1961.

During most of that same period, Dr. David Irwin was serving the medical needs of residents in and around the village of Navan.

Dr. Irwin was born in England 1881. His family emigrated to Canada and settled in Ottawa in the late 1890s.

He earned his medical degree from Queen’s University in 1912 and completed his internship at New York General Hospital the next year.

After completing his internship, Dr. Irwin returned to Canada and established a practice in Cumberland. He would become professional colleagues with Dr. Ferguson and Eva Kennedy, who was serving as Ferguson’s assistant at the time.

Dr. Irwin encouraged Eva to travel to New York City to earn her nursing diploma at the New York Metropolitan Hospital Training School. During this the same period he began courting Eva’s sister Stella and the couple would eventually marry in 1919.

In the previous year, he bought the house which currently stands at the northwest corner of Trim and Smith Road and opened a new practice serving the residents in and around Navan.

After Dr. Ferguson died in 1921, Dr. Irwin became the only medical doctor in the township with Eva often acting as his assistant.

From his home in Navan, he would travel on house calls throughout the countryside. Some of his patients struggled just to survive during these hard times. As a result, Doc Irwin would often be paid with produce – including eggs or even whole chickens – especially during the depression years in the 1930s.

In the late ’30s, Dr. Irwin became the Medical Officer of Health in the county and presided over the coroner’s inquest into the death of OPP Cst. Harald Dent at the hands of John Miki on June 20, 1940.

In fact, Dr. Irwin was one of the first people to arrive at the Navan train station when Dent was shot, but he was unable to save the OPP constable.

Dr. Irwin himself would die less than four years later when his car was struck by a train at a level crossing on Jan. 7, 1944.

Tragically, his son David L. Irwin was killed later that year while serving in RCAF Bomber Command during the Normandy invasion.

Besides serving the community as a doctor for nearly 31 years, Irwin also served on Cumberland town council for several years.

Dr. Irwin delivered countless babies as the resident doctor in Navan, including Eve Kennedy’s second child Farmer, who would go on to become a decorated fighter plot during the Second World War and Cumberland’s chief medical practitioner in 1961.

In 2018, Dr. David Irwin was inducted into Navan’s Community Builders Wall.