George Porteous was born in Douglas, Lanarkshire, Scotland on 7 April 1903.
11 Facts About George Porteous
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George Porteous's family emigrated to Canada in 1910 and he attended secondary school in Saskatoon, going on to the University of Saskatchewan, where he was awarded BA in 1927.
3.
George Porteous began working for the YMCA as boys' work secretary in Saskatoon in 1922, later becoming an Army physical education instructor.
4.
In 1941 Porteous was posted with the Winnipeg Grenadiers to Hong Kong, to reinforce the British garrison.
5.
The regiment arrived just in time to be overwhelmed by invading Japanese forces, and George Porteous was to spend a total of 44 months in one of the notorious prisoner of war camps, where he remained until the end of the war.
6.
George Porteous returned to Saskatoon after the war and was named executive director of the Saskatoon Community Chest.
7.
George Porteous was later awarded the Order of Canada in 1974 for dedication to community affairs, and was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Saskatchewan, the Queen's representative, on 3 March 1976, thus becoming that Province's 14th Lieutenant Governor.
8.
An interesting insight into George Porteous' experience is that from 1960 until his death in 1978 George Porteous was an enthusiastic advocate of the medical benefits of niacin.
9.
George Porteous insisted he would not recommend anything to anyone which he had not first tried himself.
10.
George Porteous discovered that niacin had greatly relieved the severe arthritis and insomnia that had plagued him as a result of his wartime imprisonment and systematic starvation over a four-year period.
11.
George Porteous supported the use of this vitamin for all Canadian and US ex-prisoners of war suffering from similar symptoms.