FREDERIC HARRISON EDMUNDS
(1898-1965)
from the Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum
Geologists, Vol. 49 (1965) pp. 1532-33.
After several weeks in a hospital, and one operation, death came gently
to Harry Edmunds on Sunday morning, February 28, 1965. With it ended the early phase of a
now mature and growing petroleum industry in Saskatchewan, Canada - so much was the life
of Frederic Harrison Edmunds intertwined with the history of oil exploration and
development in his adopted country.
He was born in the small town of Hawarden, Flintshire, North Wales, on
January 27, 1898. After having served in the Special Brigade, Royal Engineers, from 1917
to 1919, when he became injured in an accident that caused permanent damage to his leg, he
went to the University of Liverpool where he obtained his B.Sc. Honours in 1922 and his
M.Sc. in 1923. He took a combined course in chemistry and geology, the latter under P. G.
H. Boswell, the distinguished pioneer in sedimentary geology. Thus the educational
foundation was laid for Edmunds' later work in soils, glacial geology, stratigraphy, and
exploration for petroleum. After graduation, he started out as a chemist and geologist for
a firebrick company, but in 1925 left the British Isles to settle in Canada where he
joined the Department of Soils at the University of Saskatchewan. Four years later he was
transferred to become the first professor in the then newly created Geology Department.
As far as his achievements are concerned in the wide field of
geological studies that he made his own, Professor Edmunds will be remembered most for his
comprehension of the glacial geology of Saskatchewan, and for his part in the early
development of the Lloydminster oil field. When partaking in the soil surveys during the
period from 1925 to 1930, he built up a storehouse of knowledge on the surficial deposits
of Southern Saskatchewan. Only later in life, at the insistence of friends, he wrote on
the history of deglaciation of this part of the world, but before publication he relied on
lectures, field trips, supervision, and informal talks for transmitting his ideas to
others, most of them his students. Similarly, his contributions to a better understanding
of the Cretaceous System, and oil accumulations in rocks of that age, are mainly in notes,
well logs, correlation charts, typewritten reports, and geological maps. His influence on
the geological fraternity was duly acknowledged when he was made a Fellow or the Royal
Society of Canada, a Fellow of the Geological Society (London); a Fellow of the Geological
Society of America, a member of the Councils of both the Canadian Institute of Mining and
Metallurgy, and the Geological Association of Canada. The Provincial Government appointed
him to the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Conservation Board when that body was established in
1952, a post he held until his death.
Slight of build, afflicted with diabetes, and troubled by his heart,
Professor Edmunds, nevertheless, carried an unusually heavy work load. The door to his
office was always open for staff, students, and his many friends alike. He had to use
quiet evenings and Sunday mornings to get the administrative tasks done that fell on him
after he became Head of the Department of Geological Sciences in 1961. Also, he never let
his health interfere with his desire to travel, and made a trip around the world during
his sabbatical leave in 1955-1956. He kept in contact with the many friends he had in
organizations that he joined, which included The American Association of Petroleum
Geologists, the American Geophysical Association, the Saskatchewan Geological Society, and
numerous provincial and federal engineering societies.
How he would have enjoyed retirement which was to come in June, 1965.
He would have known how to fill time to the fullest, but, alas, this was not to be.
His wife, the former Mabel Workman (who was also a geology student under Professor
Boswell), his three married sons, David, Hugh, Roger, and his nine grandchildren can take
comfort in the knowledge that their husband, father and grandfather will long be
remembered for his kindness, understanding, cheerfulness, and industry by his many friends
in the university and profession.
W. O. Kupsch
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
July 20, 1965
