Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
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Other form(s) of name
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
Ernest William James, 1889-1952, was born in Kobe, Japan to British parents and became a prominent businessman there before the Second World War with A. Cameron & Co. Ltd. His firm represented several large British Columbia businesses including the Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company (Cominco), the British Columbia Pulp and Paper Company and the British Columbia Shipbuilders' Federation. James was also Swedish Consul in Japan. James built a large estate in Shioya, later called Jamestown. He married Winnifred Hannah, 1889-1950, and they adopted twins girls, Joy and Mary Diana, 1921-2009. The family left Japan at the onset of the war and settled in Vancouver. Diana joined the Women's Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force and was assigned to operational intelligence due to her fluency in Japanese. She trained as a medical photographer at the Shaughnessy Hospital in Vancouver and spent her career at the Colonel Belcher Hospital in Calgary, Alberta. The Diana James Wellness Centre at the Kerby Centre in Calgary is named in honour.