George S. Mathieson

Mathieson, George S.

George S. (Simpson) Mathieson. Organizational pioneer, b Glasgow 16 Dec 1873, d Winnipeg 7 Feb 1951. After an apprenticeship in the grain business in Scotland, he joined the Norris Grain Co in Winnipeg and rose to a vice-presidency. He was internationally recognized - especially during World War II - as an expert on grain marketing and was president of the Winnipeg Grain Exchange. To the Winnipeg public, however, he was better known for his vigorous activities on behalf of the city's musical development. He was secretary 1916-44 of the Men's Musical Club (Men's Music Club) and president in 1944. He was a co-founder in 1918 and the secretary until 1944 of the Manitoba Music Competition Festival (Winnipeg Music Competition), and was the organizer and the secretary 1926-49 of the informal interprovincial association which in 1949 became the FCMF with Mathieson as honorary president. The George S. Mathieson Trophy, named in his honour, is a major choral trophy presented annually by the FCMF. He was a director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in the 1920s, and in 1935 he published, under the nom de plume G Sharp Minor, Crescendo: A Business Man's Romance in Music, a history of 20 years' musical activity in Winnipeg.