Born in England in 1943, Francis Mansbridge came to Canada with his parents in 1946. In 1992, after fifteen years as an English professor, Mansbridge decided he'd rather be an archivist. He studied at the University of British Columbia and worked at the North Vancouver Museum and Archives. This work resulted in Launching History: The Saga of the Burrard Drydock (Harbour, 2002), winner of the BC Lieutenant-Governor's award for history, and the first history of the forested mountain above West Vancouver, Hollyburn: The Mountain and the City (Ronsdale, 2008).

In Dreamers & Designers (Harbour, 2018), Francis Mansbridge traces the history of West Vancouver and the pivotal players in its evolution, including the Squamish people of Capilano Reserve No. 5 and the British Pacific Properties. The text is enlivened by accounts of the major personalities involved in the shaping of West Vancouver and sidebars featuring the voices of West Vancouverites throughout the ages. With archival and contemporary photographs that provide a visual account of the changing landscape, Dreamers & Designers paints a vivid picture of how West Vancouver’s unique setting has defined the dynamic coastal community and the lives of those who reside there.

Prior to working at the North Vancouver Museum and Archives, Mansbridge had collaborated with the West Vancouver Historical Society to produce Arrivals and Departures: The Ferries and the People of Horseshoe Bay (2014) and Cottages to Community: The Story of West Vancouver’s Neighbourhoods (2011).

A contributor to both newspapers and literary journals, Mansbridge is also the author of God's Recording Angel, a biography of Irving Layton, and editor of Wild Gooseberries: The Selected Letters of Irving Layton.

In Vancouver Then And Now (Thunder Bay / Raincoast, 2010), Mansbridge contrasts archival photos of Vancouver locations with contemporary photos, mirroring a concept already used in Vancouver books by Roland Morgan and Michael Kluckner.

BOOKS:

Irving Layton: God's Recording Angel (ECW, 1995)
Launching History: The Saga of the Burrard Drydock (Harbour, 2002)
Hollyburn: The Mountain and the City (Ronsdale, 2008)
Cottages to Community: The Story of West Vancouver’s Neighbourhoods (West Vancouver Historical Society, 2011)
Arrivals and Departures: The Ferries and the People of Horseshoe Bay (West Vancouver Historical Society, 2014)
Dreamers & Designers: the Shaping of West Vancouver (Harbour, 2018) $29.95 978-1-55017-851-7

[BCBW 2018] "Local History" "Maritime"

Review of the author's work by BC Studies:
Launching History: The Saga of Burrard Dry Dock