Talk:George Edward Luckman Gauntlett

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I am grateful that there is the beginning of a biography of George Edward Luckman Gauntlett and I thank those who have worked so hard to start this project! I am the grandson of George Edward Luckman Gauntlett and I would like to contribute to discussion of the article on grandfather that may help in clarifying certain details. I have no record whatever of Edward Gauntlett ever having been a missionary with a Canadian Church, or any other church, for that matter. Certainly, it would have been most unusual to send an un-trained 23-year-old young man to Asia as a missionary. [My father, who went to Japan in 1932 as a missionary, was not accepted by his mission before he was in his mid twenties after receiving extensive training. It was during his first term as a missionary in Japan that my father, Percy Thomas Luke, met my mother, Beatrice Amy Gauntlett and they were married.] My records indicate that Edward Gauntlett's first employment in Japan was at the American Embassy (according to my Mother's autobiography). He did not take Japanese Citizenship "in his old age". He had been given Japanese citizenship by the emperor (Taisho?) long before the war. He was also given the rank/title "Chokunin" (close friend/advisor). He did not change his name to Ganto Takeshi -- it was changed to Ganto Tadashi. His teaching in Tokyo was at Tokyo Higher Commercial School, which became Hitotsubashi University and he was official advisor to the Japanese Foreign Office (Gaimusho) before the military takeover of Japan. His decorations from the Emperor were (in chronological order): First Class Order of the Rising Sun (1909), Fourth Class Small Cordon of the same (1925), and Third Class Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1953. He was the first person to explore what are now known as the Akiyoshi (Shuhodo) caverns in Yamaguchi, mapped these extensive caverns and encouraged the Yamaguchi government to create a park modelled on the National Parks system in the USA. They were then the largest known caverns in Asia, being about 10km long. There is a bronze bust of Edward Gauntlett in the museum sited close to the upper exit (accessible by elevator from the caverns). He was honoured by the Yamaguchi Prefectural Government on May 24, 1954, and the Yamaguchi Board of Education published a well-illustrated, book in Japanese and English titled "Mr Edward Gauntlett and Yamaguchi Prefecture" at the time. I am happy to provide photographs and other material Again, thanks to those who are creating this article.

Last edited at 12:21, 4 August 2009 (UTC). Substituted at 15:59, 29 April 2016 (UTC)