Adelaide Sinclair

Commander Adelaide Sinclair, Director of the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service during World War II. She was the first Canadian

woman to wear the four stripes of a captain in the Royal Canadian Navy.

Cdr Sinclair was born in Toronto on 16 January, 1900. She attended Havergal College, and after graduation, the University of

Toronto, where she recieved a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. For her efforts during the war she was made an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours of 1945. After the war, from 1946 to 1957, she served as executive assistant

to the Deputy Minister of National Health and Welfare, with additional duties representing Canada at UNICEF. She was one of the

highest ranking women in the United Nations from 1957 to 1967 when she served as executive director for programs of UNICEF. She

retired in 1967 and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada the same year.