Arthur Frederick Broadbridge

Who is Arthur Frederick Broadbridge?

Arthur Frederick Broadbridge was a Canadian diplomat.

Born in Elham, England, Broadbridge's family emigrated to rural Saskatchewan in 1920. 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. 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. As a radar officer, he served in England, Africa, Sicily, Naples, Corsica and Florence.

After being demobilized, Broadbridge returned to Saskatoon and married fellow teacher, Mavis Davies, whom he had been courting before the war. 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. He worked briefly as an archivist for the Saskatchewan Archives Board before taking a civil service exam and joining the foreign service in 1949.