Educator, historian.
Born at Newport, Shropshire, England on 14 August 1929, son of Maurice and Winifred Mary Wilson, he was educated at the Adams Grammar School then received BA (1952) and MA (1953) degrees from Sheffield University before immigrating to Canada in 1954. He taught school for a term then moved to New Zealand where he taught at Waipu for a short time. Returning to England, he taught for a year at the Bridgewater Grammar School in Manchester then came back to Manitoba and taught at Melita School for two years, followed by a year at Brandon College teaching history and Latin.
In 1960, he joined the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and served as Department Head and Assistant Dean before retirement in 1988. He received BEd (1958) and MEd (1963) degrees from the University of Manitoba and a PhD degree from Michigan State University (1967), writing a dissertation at the latter on the history of education in Manitoba.
Through the 1980s, he wrote biographies of several noted personalities in Manitoba history, including Hugh John Macdonald (1980), Charles Boulton (1984), Thomas Greenway (1985), Frank Cornish (1986), William Pinkham (1986), William Kennedy (1989), John Pennefather (1991), William McRobie (1991), and Thomas Scoble (1993). Other writings included Manitoba: Profile of a Province (1975), The Poets’ Record: Verses on Canadian History (1975), Belgians in Manitoba (1976), George Simpson and the Hudson’s Bay Company (1977), Off and Running - Horse Racing in Manitoba (1978), Donald Smith and the Canadian Pacific Railway (1978), Fur Trade in Canada (c1983), The Red River Settlement (c1983), and John A. Macdonald and Confederation (1983). In 1978, he received a Margaret McWilliams Medal from the Manitoba Historical Society for his Off and Running book.
He died at Winnipeg on 28 March 2012.
“University results,” Winnipeg Free Press, 16 May 1963, page 57.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 31 March 2012.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and James Wyndels.
Page revised: 18 April 2017
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