Stanley, George Francis Gillman

  • From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: See full biography at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stanley
  • Wiki Biography:
    • Colonel George Francis Gillman Stanley CC CD FRSC FRHSC(hon) FRHistS (July 6, 1907 – September 13, 2002) was a Canadian author, soldier, historian at Mount Allison University, public servant, and designer of the Canadian Flag.
    • George F. G. Stanley was born in Calgary, Alberta, in 1907 and received a BA from the University of Alberta in Edmonton. He studied at Keble College, University of Oxford, in 1929 as the Rhodes Scholar from Alberta, and held a Beit Fellowship in Imperial Studies and a Royal Society of Canada Scholarship. He earned a BA, MA, MLitt and DPhil. Always a keen athlete, he played for the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club, which won the Spengler Cup in 1931. At Oxford, he wrote his book, The Birth of Western Canada: A History of The Riel Rebellions, and began his lifelong work on Louis Riel.
    • Stanley returned to Canada in 1936 and was appointed a professor of history at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick. He joined the military upon arriving there and qualified as a lieutenant in the New Brunswick Rangers. He served as an infantry training officer in Fredericton and then proceeded overseas during World War II as historian (rising to Deputy-Director) in the Historical Section at Canadian Army Headquarters in London, England.
    • In 1949, Stanley began teaching at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) in Kingston, Ontario, where he remained for twenty years. At RMC, he became head of the History Department, served as the first Dean of Arts for seven years (1962–1969), and began building a faculty in the humanities and social sciences. He taught the first undergraduate course in military history ever given in Canada and wrote a textbook, entitled Canada’s Soldiers, 1604–1954: The Military History of An Unmilitary People (1954), which became required reading for every service person for three decades. 
    • While in Kingston he served as secretary and president of the Kingston Historical Society and edited Historic Kingston for several years. He was president of the Arts Society, director of the Art Collection Society, served on various committees working to save Kingston’s old limestone buildings, was president of the St. Andrew’s Society, and acted as clerk of his church’s vestry council. Stanley was president of the Canadian Historical Association (1955–1956), a member of the Massey Commission’s Committee on Historic Sites and Monuments (1950–1951), and a founding member of the Archaeological and Historic Sites Board of Ontario (1953–1969). He was chairman of the federal government’s Centennial Publications Committee and acted as chairman of centennial celebrations in Pittsburgh Township, Ontario. While Stanley was at the Royal Military College, he suggested the design for the Canadian flag, which was adopted on 15 February 1965.
  • Fourth Great Grandson of Proven Loyalist in Loyalist Directory : https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=6629
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/29456086/george_francis_gillman-stanley