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William Wasborough Foster, military officer, public servant, mountaineer (b at Bristol, Eng 1875; d at Vancouver 2 Dec 1954). Energetic, capable and good-humoured, Foster immigrated to Canada in 1894 to work for the CPR before becoming BC's deputy minister of public works in 1910.
Foster, William Wasborough
William Wasborough Foster, military officer, public servant, mountaineer (b at Bristol, Eng 1875; d at Vancouver 2 Dec 1954). Energetic, capable and good-humoured, Foster immigrated to Canada in 1894 to work for the CPR before becoming BC's deputy minister of public works in 1910. A front-line soldier in WWI, he won 15 decorations, a battlefield promotion and a Victoria Cross recommendation, honours that contributed to his 1935 appointment as Vancouver's chief of police. In WWII, as a major-general responsible for the defence of western Canada, he supervised construction of the Canadian portion of the Al-Can Highway. As much mountaineer as militiaman, he participated in the first ascents of Mount ROBSON (1913) and Mount LOGAN (1925).
