Sir Sanford Fleming
1827-1915

Sir Sanford Fleming was born on July 7, 1827, in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, and emigrated to Quebec on the ship "Brilliant," at age 17 years. He settled, for a time, in Montreal and Ottawa. He worked in Canada as a surveyor, and later became one of the foremost railway engineers of his time. He was in charge of the initial survey for the Canadian Pacific Railway, the first Canadian railway to span the continent.

Fleming also designed the first Canadian postage stamp. Issued in 1851, it cost three pennies and depicted the beaver, now the national animal of Canada. It was also the first pictorial stamp issued anywhere in the world!

Fleming's lasting fame results from his development of Standard Time Zones. Before Fleming, every community across the world set its own time, based on high noon. Ottawa had a different time from Montreal, and Montreal from Quebec. Fleming proposed wide bands of standardized time. His contribution to the adoption of the present system of time zones earned him the title of "Father of Standard Time."

Fleming took an active part in the intellectual and scientific life of Canada, throughout his long career and received many honours. He was knighted in 1897 on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. He died in Halifax in 1915.

Sir Sanford Fleming, C.M.G., served as Chancellor of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. Sir Sanford Fleming College, with campuses in many Ontario locations, was named in his honour.

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