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Arthur Frederick Broadbridge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arthur Frederick Broadbridge (15 February 1915 – 29 March 2009) was a Canadian diplomat.[1]

Born in Elham, England, Broadbridge's family emigrated to rural Saskatchewan in 1920.[2][3] In 1932 Broadbridge trained for one year before starting to work as a teacher at Bradgate School, Newpark School and Hillside School in Invermay and Rosetown.[2][3] In 1941, at the outbreak of the Second World War, Broadbridge enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and was sent to Vancouver to study radar, at the time a secret technology.[3] As a radar officer, he served in England, Africa, Sicily, Naples, Corsica and Florence.[3]

After being demobilized, Broadbridge returned to Saskatoon and married fellow teacher, Mavis Davies, whom he had been courting before the war.[3] As a veteran he received support to attend the University of Saskatchewan where he obtained a Master of Arts degree in history for his thesis titled The History of Rosetown, 1904–1939.[2][4] He worked briefly as an archivist for the Saskatchewan Archives Board before taking a civil service exam and joining the foreign service in 1949.[2][3] Broadbridge was posted to Chicago, Washington, D.C., Cairo, and Berlin before being appointed concurrently as High Commissioner to Malawi and Zambia then later as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Mozambique.[1][3] His terms for these posts all ended concurrently.[1]

In 1977 Broadbridge retired from foreign service and returned his family to Canada.[3] His wife, who had been ill, died soon after their return.[3]

In his retirement, Broadbridge published two books: The Church of St. Peter, Cobourg, Ontario, 1867–1978, and a memoir, Early Days.[2]

In 1981 he remarried; his second wife was Ada Uren, an old friend who had recently been widowed.[3] Uren died in 2004 and Broadbridge in 2009.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Broadbridge, Arthur Frederick (Career)". Heads of Post List. Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada. 6 June 2008. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Fonds F 647 - Arthur F. Broadbridge fonds". Saskatchewan Archival Information Network. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Uren, Janet (2 April 2009). "Arthur Broadbridge wrote history of St. Peter's Church". Northumberland Today. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  4. ^ Ingles, Ernest Boyce (2003). Peel's Bibliography of the Canadian Prairies to 1953. University of Toronto Press. pp. 730. ISBN 9780802048257.
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Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
James Rollins Barker
High Commissioner to Zambia
1973-1976
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Established
High Commissioner to Malawi
1973-1976
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Established
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Mozambique
1975-1976
Succeeded by