Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

Charles Perry Stacey (30 July 1906 – 17 November 1989) was a Canadian

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

and university

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...

. He served as the official historian of the

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...

in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and published extensively on military and political matters.

Early life and education

Stacey was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Ontario to Dr Charles Edward Stacey (1860 – 1927) and Pearl Perry (1878 – 1964). The Stacey family was of

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the sec ...

origin. After attending the

University of Toronto Schools University of Toronto Schools (UTS) is an independent secondary day school affiliated with the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school follows a specialized academic curriculum, and admission is determined by competitive ex ...

, he received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in history from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

in 1927. In 1924 he joined the Canadian Militia. Stacey received a second

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

in history from

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12t ...

, in 1929. He received a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degree from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

in 1933.

Career

From 1933 to 1940, Stacey was a member of the history department at

. With the advent of the

, he was given the rank of major and appointed as historical officer to the

. He served in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

for most of the war, headed a team dedicated to collecting and collating information for future historians, and wrote contemporary reports. His reports provided factual details about many military operations, including the

Dieppe Raid Operation Jubilee or the Dieppe Raid (19 August 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied amphibious attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in northern France, during the Second World War. Over 6,050 infantry, predominantly Canadian, s ...

and

Operation Spring Operation Spring (July 25–27, 1944) was an offensive operation of the Second World War conducted by II Canadian Corps during the Normandy campaign in 1944. The plan was intended to create pressure on the German forces operating on the Briti ...

. After the war, Stacey worked with a team to create an official history of the Canadian military operations during the conflict. He benefited from his access to the major Canadian military and political figures involved in the war, both during the conflict and afterwards, when the official histories were being finalized. The three volume set was published in 1955. A comment he made after the war regarding

war brides War brides are women who married military personnel from other countries in times of war or during military occupations, a practice that occurred in great frequency during World War I and World War II. Among the largest and best documented exa ...

, whom he called "Most excellent citizens," became the title of a book on the subject by

Eswyn Lyster Coral Eswyn (née Ellinor) Lyster, (September 27, 1923 – July 18, 2009) was a British-born Canadian author best known for writing extensively on the Canadian war bride experience. She also published articles on the Dieppe Raid in World War II, ...

. Stacey eventually attained the rank of colonel. In total, he served in the militia and the army for 35 years (1924-1959). From 1959 to 1975, Stacey was a professor of history at the University of Toronto. He continued to research and write analysis of Canadian military operations. He published an

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

, ''A Date With History'', which presented much background information regarding the writing of the ''

Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War The ''Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War'' was a three volume set of books, based on the wartime work of the Historical Section of the General Staff. The Canadian Army had a dedicated set of officers in the Second Worl ...

''. He extended those themes in volumes ''The Half Million'' (dealing with the Canadian forces stationed in Britain) and ''Arms, Men, and Government'' (concerning the government in Canada) during the war. Stacey also wrote a critical analysis of the writing process of the ''Official History of World War I'' (only one of the projected eight volumes by the original author ever appeared in print). His book, ''Arms, Men, and Governments: The War Policies of Canada, 1939-1945'' also won the Albert B. Corey Prize, awarded jointly by the

Canadian Historical Association The Canadian Historical Association (CHA; French ''Société historique du Canada'', SHC) is a Canadian organization founded in 1922 for the purposes of promoting historical research and scholarship. It is a bilingual, not-for-profit, charitable o ...

and

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...

, in 1972. He died in Toronto in 1989. His personal and research papers are in the

University of Toronto Archives The University of Toronto Libraries system is the largest academic library in Canada and is ranked third among peer institutions in North America, behind only Harvard and Yale. The system consists of 39 libraries located on University of Toronto' ...

. Since 1988, an award called the

C.P. Stacey Prize The C.P. Stacey Prize (also known as the ''C.P. Stacey Award'') is given by the C.P. Stacey Award Committee and the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies (the LCMSDS took over administration of the award in 2018 from the Cana ...

has been given by the Canadian Committee for the History of the Second World War "for distinguished publications on the twentieth-century military experience."

Personal life

On 26 August 1939 Stacey married Doris Newton Shiell, daughter of R. T. Shiell. Doris was born in Toronto in 1903. After Colonel Stacey's retirement from the Army in 1959, the couple lived in a house at 89 Tranmer Avenue in Toronto. Doris died in Toronto on 5 December 1969. Colonel Stacey died in Toronto on 17 January 1989 at age 82. He is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto.

Selected bibliography

*''Canada and the British Army'' (1936) *''The Canadian Army 1939-1945'' (1948), winner of the 1948

Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction The Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a non-fiction book written in English. Since 1987 it is one of fourteen Governor General's Awards for Litera ...

*''

. Six Years of War: The Army in Canada, Britain, and the Pacific'' (Ottawa: The Queens Printer, 1955) *''Quebec, 1759: The Siege and the Battle'' (1959) **(An updated version was published in 2001 with new material by Donald E. Graves.) *''Records of the Nile Voyageurs, 1884-1885: The Canadian Voyageur Contingent in the Gordon Relief Expedition'' (Toronto: Champlain Society Publications, 1959) *''

. The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944-1945'' (Ottawa: The Queens Printer, 1960) *''Arms, Men, and Governments: The War Policies of Canada, 1939-1945'' (Ottawa: Minister of National Defence, 1970)
online free
*''A Very Double Life: The Private World of

Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...

'' (1976) *''Canada and the Age of Conflict Vol. 1'' (1977), (Toronto:

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university cale ...

), . *''Canada and the Age of Conflict Vol. 2'' (1981), (Toronto: University of Toronto Press), . *(with Barbara M. Wilson) ''The Half-Million: The Canadians in Britain, 1939-1946'' (1987), (Toronto: University of Toronto Press). *''A Date With History''

References

External links

biography at canadiansoldiers.com

Charles Perry Stacey
at

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...

Eswyn Lyster's war bride webpage

Most Excellent Citizens

C.P. Stacey's Biography on Department of National Defence Website
*Archival papers o
Charles Perry Stacey
and th
Stacey Family
held at th
University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stacey, Charles Perry 1906 births 1989 deaths Burials at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto Canadian Militia officers Military personnel from Toronto Canadian military historians Canadian male non-fiction writers Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford Officers of the Order of Canada Canadian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Princeton University alumni Princeton University faculty University of Toronto alumni University of Toronto faculty Writers from Toronto Governor General's Award-winning non-fiction writers 20th-century Canadian historians Presidents of the Canadian Historical Association Canadian Army personnel of World War II Canadian Army officers