DR. J.
BANNISTER IS PRESIDENT OF HISTORICAL BODY
One
of Norfolk's outstanding sons and a noted educationalist and authority
on local history,
Dr. John Arthur Bannister of Port Dover, was elected
president of the Norfolk Historical Society at the annual meeting of
that organization on 7 Apr 1949, succeeding Dr. Ralph E. Smith of
Simcoe.
Born in
Woodhouse Township on 31 May 1875, Dr. Bannister is a son of William
Bannister and Eliza Cruickshank. He was educated at S.S. No. 7,
Woodhouse and at Port Dover Public and High Schools and Simcoe Model
School. He entered the teaching profession in Norfolk County, teaching
first at Elmwood School, Charlotteville Township. Later he taught for a
while at Nanicoke.
He then attended
Queen's University where he graduated in 1898 as Bachelor of Arts, with
Specialist standing in Classics. After attending Ontario Normal College
at Hamilton, he taught for some years in Wallaceburg, Mattawa, Blenhelm,
and Caledonia. Later he spent three years in educational work in
Chicago, Upon his return to Canada, he was successively principal of
Campbellford Public School, Classical Master of Cobourg Collegiate
Institute and Principal of Chesley High School.
Dr. Bannister
was appointed Inspector of Public Schools for Temiskaming District in
1917, an inspectorate 400 miles long with 170 teachers. He became
English Master at North Bay Normal School in 1920. He received the
degree of Doctor of Pedagogy from the University of Toronto in 1926.
Appointed principal of Peterborough Normal School in 1929, he continued
in that position until 1943, when he retired and returned to Port Dover.
Dr. Bannister is
the author of "Early Educational History of Norfolk County"
and of a Manual for the Teaching of Composition, prepared for the
Ontario Department of Education. He is a frequent contributor to
newspapers and magazines. He is a mem-ber of the Ontario Historical
Society and until his retirement he was a member of the Peterborough
Rotary Club and of the Council of Queen's University. His hobbies are
Nature Study, wood and metal work, fishing and local history.
