Dr. Bucke was born in Suffolk, England. His family migrated to Canada and settled near London, Ontario, in 1837. He studied medicine at McGill University in Montreal, graduating in 1864 and winning several prizes. He settled in Sarnia, Ontario, to practice medicine for 10 years, after which he was appointed Medical Superintendent of the Hamilton Asylum for the Insane in 1876. After a year, he was transferred to the London Asylum, where he remained until his death 25 years later.
Dr. Bucke introduced non-restraint in his hospital, which was a stimulus for other asylums. He was one of the founders of the University of Western Ontario Medical School. An ardent student of literature and philosophy, he was a friend of Walt Whitman and published a biography of him in 1883. He also published books titled “Man’s Moral Nature” and “Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind.”
In 1897, Dr. Bucke presided over the psychological section of the British Medical Association. He served as Professor of Nervous and Mental Diseases at Western University of Medicine in London, Ontario. He was one of the original Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada and published both on medical and non-medical subjects. Dr. Bucke was President of the American Medico-Psychological Association (1897–98).