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Famous Like Me > Actor > S > George Stanley

Profile of George Stanley on Famous Like Me

 
Name: George Stanley  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 29th January 1875
   
Place of Birth: San Francisco, California, USA
   
Profession: Actor
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
The Flag of Canada

Colonel The Honourable George Francis Gillman Stanley, C.C., C.D., F.R.S.C. (July 6, 1907 - September 13, 2002) was an historian, author, soldier, teacher, public servant, and designer of the current Canadian flag.

Career

The Hon. George and Ruth Stanley, Government House, Fredericton, New Brunswick

George F.G. Stanley was born in Calgary, Alberta and received a B.A. from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. He went to Oxford University in 1929 as the Rhodes Scholar from Alberta, and earned a B.A., M.A., M.Litt. and D.Phil.; he also played for the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club, which won the Spengler Cup in 1931. At Oxford, he wrote his ground-breaking 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. He joined the military upon arriving in New Brunswick. During World War II, he served as an historian in the Historical Section at Canadian Army Headquarters in London, where he was also responsible for the Canadian War Artists; he was discharged as a Lieutenant-Colonel in 1947. He then taught at the University of British Columbia, holding the first ever chair in Canadian history in Canada. In 1949, Stanley went to teach at the Royal Military College of Canada, where he was dean of arts for seven years, and remained there until 1969. He then returned to Mount Allison University to become director of the new Canadian Studies program, the first of its kind in Canada. He retired from teaching in 1975, but continued to write and remained active in public life well into his nineties. He is buried in Sackville, New Brunswick.

The historian, R.C. [Rod] Macleod of the University of Alberta, has written that: “Much of English Canada’s understanding of the formative years of the Canadian West comes from George Stanley’s remarkable work, The Birth of Western Canada. Considering that it was one of the earliest works by an academically trained historian in this country, it has stood the test of time remarkably well. No other work of Canadian history published before the Second World War is as regularly read by historians, students and the general public…. [This] subject will always be identified with his name.”

Public Life

Col. The Hon. George F.G. Stanley, Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, 1982-1987

In 1982, he became the 25th Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick since Confederation and served in this capacity until 1987. The mid-1980s were a festive and very busy time as New Brunswickers marked their bicentennial. During those years, eminent visitors from around the world also came to help New Brunswick celebrate. The Stanleys, with their strong sense of tradition and their comfortable manner with people from all walks of life, proved well suited to this role.

Family Life

In 1946, George Stanley married Ruth L. Hill, a Montreal lawyer. They have three daughters: Dr. Della M.M. Stanley [Mrs. Thomas Cromwell], Professor Marietta R.E. Stanley, and Dr. Laurie C.C. Stanley-Blackwell [Mrs. John D. Blackwell]. The Stanleys also have two grandchildren: Thomas E.G.S. Cromwell and Ruth L.H.Q. Stanley-Blackwell.

Honours

In 1976, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and was promoted to Companion in 1994. He also received a Knight of Justice of the Order of St. John, the Canadian Forces Decoration and twelve honourary degrees, as well as his four earned degrees. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the Royal Historical Society. In 1950, he was awarded the Royal Society of Canada's Tyrrell Medal for history. In 1955, he was elected president of the Canadian Historical Association; his landmark presidential address was entitled Act or Pact? Another Look at Confederation.

Involvement with the Canadian Flag

Dr. Stanley with the Maple Leaf Flag

On March 23, 1964, Dr. Stanley wrote a memorandum to the Honourable John Matheson, a prominent member of the multi-party parliamentary flag committee, suggesting that the new flag of Canada should be instantly recognizable, and simple enough so that school children could draw it. He drew a rough sketch of his design on the bottom of the letter. (It had been inspired as he drove earlier that day, when he saw a red and white tri-bar flag fluttering near the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario.)

The Stanley proposal was placed on a wall with literally hundreds of other flag designs, and eventually was selected as one of the final three designs for consideration. Through some clever political moves by the Liberal members of the committee, it beat out Diefenbaker's flag (a combination of fleurs-de-lis, a maple leaf and the Union Jack), as well as the Pearson Pennant (a three-leafed stem on a white background with blue bars on either side).

Stanley's design was slightly modified by a government graphic artist (who, ironically enough, was a separatist), who gave the flag its current look. It was oficially adopted as the flag of Canada by the House of Commons on December 15, 1964 and by the Senate on December 17, 1964, and proclaimed by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, taking effect on February 15, 1965.

Support for the new flag grew quickly, even in Quebec. As John Matheson observed in his book Canada's Flag, "when in June 1965, Dr. George F.G. Stanley of [the] Royal Military College ... was granted an honorary doctorate at Laval University, he was loudly applauded by the student body when the Canadian flag was referred to in his citation. The applause interrupted the citation."

Some debate lingered over whether Stanley or the graphic designer should get credit for the flag, but it was settled in 1995 when Prime Minister Jean Chrétien officially recognized George Stanley as the father of Canada's flag.

Selected Works

  • The Birth Of Western Canada: A History Of The Riel Rebellions (1936) Reprint (1992) U. of Toronto Press. ISBN 0802069312
  • Canada's Soldiers 1604-1954: The Military History of An Unmilitary People (1954) Macmillan, Toronto.
  • Louis Riel, Patriot or Rebel? (1954) Canadian Historical Association.
  • In Search of the Magnetic North: A Soldier-surveyor's Letters from the North-west, 1843-1844 (1955) Toronto, Macmillan.
  • In the Face of Danger: The History of the Lake Superior Regiment (1960)
  • For Want of a Horse: Being a Journal of the Campaigns against the Americans in 1776 and 1777 conducted from Canada (1961) Tribune Press.
  • Louis Riel (1963). Ryerson Press. 1st Paperback Edition, 1972. 5th Printing 1969. ISBN 0-07-092961-0.
  • The Story of Canada's Flag: A Historical Sketch (1965) Ryerson Press.
  • New France: The Last Phase, 1744-1760 (1968) McClelland and Stewart.
  • A Short History of the Canadian Constitution (1969) Ryerson Press.
  • The War of 1812: Land Operations (1983) Macmillan of Canada. ISBN 0771598599
  • The Collected Writings Of Louis Riel/Les Ecrits Complets de Louis Riel (1985) University of Alberta Press. (Text in French and English) ISBN 0888640919
  • Toil And Trouble: Military Expeditions To Red River (1989) Dundurn Press Ltd. ISBN 1550020595
  • The Role of the Lieutenant-Governor: A Seminar (1992).
  • Bibliography of Dr. Stanley's Publications

External Links

  • Birth of the Canadian Flag
  • Col. the Hon. George F.G. Stanley (1907-2002)
  • The Story of Canada's Flag; A Historical Sketch (Ryerson Press, 1965)
  • Dr. George F.G. Stanley's Flag Memorandum, 23 March 1964
  • One Single Leaf: The Ballad of George Stanley Hear the Song


Preceded by:
Hédard Robichaud
Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick
1981-1987
Succeeded by:
Gilbert Finn

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article George Stanley