Fondo F1857 - Francois Vernon fonds

Fernleigh "Francois" Vernon, 1888-late 1940s, was born in Plymouth, England and was in Calgary by 1910. Before the First World War he played trombone in the Calgary Citizens' Band. He served overseas during the war with the 31st Battalion, and then played in the Great War Veterans Association Orchestra which toured Canada and the USA, and later led the orchestra. He also led a smaller dance band called Vernon's Orchestra out of Saskatoon. He was known professionally as Francois Vernon but also used the names Frank or Floyd.

Throughout his career he lived in a number of western Canadian cities including Calgary, Banff, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Fernie, British Columbia, and was on the concert circuit with his various bands and orchestras. He was also on the Pantages circuit with his vaudeville troupe, Vernon's Versatile Players, and at times with his second wife, Elsie Della Grierson, from Edmonton and their son, Richard Charles. The peak of his career was in the 1920s and early 1930s. During the Second World War he was a supervisor with Canadian Legion War Services, Inc. in Military District #13, Alberta.