In Shelburne, the Wansbrough family is trying to set things right, but finding there’s no easy way. All wish to honour Brigadier General, and local dentist, Elgin McKinnon Wansbrough, but they can’t agree on a solution.
Brigadier General Elgin McKinnon Wansbrough served in both World Wars (he enlisted in the First World War as a 17-year-old).
He won the prestigious British Military Medal, among others, in the First World War, for his courage as a member of a machine gun crew.
Back in Canada, he received a degree in dentistry from the University of Toronto, then practiced in Shelburne.
He re-enlisted for service in the Second World War and after, he was promoted to Brigadier General.
He died in Ottawa in 1970, having risen to become director general of Canadian Forces’ dental services.
No one’s disputing that the brigadier general deserves respect.
So, the town of Shelborne attempted to honour this war hero and local dentist by naming a street after him.
Unfortunately, nobody noticed the clerical error until it was too late.
Soon, street signs went up in a subdivision for “Wansburgh Way.”
More than a dozen houses and IDs and health cards and all sorts of other government forms were registered to “Wansburgh Way.”
The spelling error was made in 2005, and there’s now no easy fix.
In Shelburne, the Wansbrough family is trying to set things right, but finding there’s no easy way. All wish to honour Brigadier General, and local dentist, Elgin McKinnon Wansbrough, but they can’t agree on a solution.
