Gilbert Lafayette Foster

Major-General G.L. Foster KStJ, CB, MD, LLD, MD (29 May 1874 – 17 May 1940) was the 6th Canadian Surgeon General.

Born in King's County, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Gilbert Lafayette Foster was educated at New York Medical College, where he graduated with a Medical Degree in 1896.

After graduation, Foster took up general practice in both Canning and Halifax, Nova Scotia. He also joined "the Canadian Militia as Surgeon-Lieutenant of the 68th (King’s County) Regiment." From 1898 to 1900 Foster served in the Yukon Field Force "(during [the] South African Campaign)."

Remaining overseas until late 1919, Major-General Foster oversaw the repatriation of thousands of Canadian casualties who remained under medical care following the Armistice, the closure of Canadian hospitals in the U.K. and the demobilization of the C.E.F. medical service. Working side-by-side with the D.G.M.S., Maj.-Gen. J.T. Fotheringham, through 1920, he helped plan the re-organization of the post-war Canadian Army Medical Corps, and succeeded to the post of Director General Medical Services upon Fotheringham's retirement in September 1920, before retiring himself in Dec 1920. Upon leaving the military profession, Foster returned to Nova Scotia, living the remainder of his life in the Annapolis Valley.

His son, Major-General Harry Wickwire Foster, had a distinguished career within the army, including "[presiding] over the court martial of Canada’s top prisoner of war, SS General Kurt Meyer."

Foster died on 17 May 1940 at the age of 65.