Lieutenant Colonel William
G. Macfarlane, manager of the Edmonton branch of the Traders Trust
Company, was born in Quebec, in 1886, and comes of Scotch ancestry in
both the paternal and maternal lines. He is a son of the Rev. Alexander
Hastie Macfarlane, a native of Scotland, who was born in 1848 and was
married in Quebec to Annie Craig Howie, who passed away in 1905. Rev.
Mr. Macfarlane has since returned to his native land, where he is
spending the evening of life.
After completing his
grammar school course William G. Macfarlane became a pupil in the high
school of Carleton Place, Ontario, from which he was graduated in 1903.
He then taught school and afterward came to Alberta, arriving in
Edmonton in 1906. He entered the employ of the Merchants Bank of Canada
and remained with that institution for six years, during which period he
rose to the position of branch manager. He next joined the Canadian
Credit Men's Association, going to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and was connected
with that organization until August, 1914, when he joined the Eleventh
Infantry Battalion on organization and was commissioned a lieutenant,
being promoted to a captaincy in 1915, and to lieutenant colonel in
1916. In October, 1914, he went to England and upon the creation of a
Headquarters Staff was gazetted deputy adjutant general, where he served
until February, 1917, when he joined the First Canadian Division in
France. On December 31, 1917, he returned to England and served on the
staff of the ministry of munitions until March, 1918. He then was loaned
to the Royal Air Force, to take charge of the administration of the
Cadet Brigade. He continued to act in that capacity until the signing of
the armistice, when he was charged with the demobilization of the
southeastern area of the Royal Air Force, with headquarters in London,
where he remained until November, 1919. He then returned to Edmonton and
has since been provincial manager for the Traders Trust Company, which
specializes as administrators, executors and trustees, the main office
of the firm being located in Winnipeg. In its control he employs a most
progressive policy, which has been productive of gratifying results.
Mr. Macfarlane was
married in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on July 12, 1913, to Miss Florence Smith,
a daughter of Joseph Smith, of Carleton Place, Ontario. Mr. and Mrs.
Macfarlane have two children, Alexandra Barbara and Ian Alexander Hastie,
the latter born in 1921. Mrs. Macfarlane is a Presbyterian and an
independent in politics. He is a Master Mason and a member of the
Edmonton Club, the Mayfair Golf & Country Club, the New Oxford and
Cambridge Club, and is a fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute, both of
London, England. He is thoroughly reliable in all business affairs and
his tenacity of purpose and his integrity have gained him a high place
in the regard of those with whom he has been associated. |