George Herbert Bowlby was born July 16, 1865 to David Sovereign Bowlby and Martha Esther Murphy Bowlby in Berlin (Kitchener), Ontario. Educated in Berlin at both the elementary and high school, he studied briefly at St. Jerome College before obtaining a medical degree at the Toronto University. After obtaining his degree he became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in London and also was a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians. As a youth he was heavily involved in sports, playing soccer and cricket. At the onset of WWI he joined the Army Medical Corps of the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force, became a Captain and was appointed Assistant Director of Medical Services. In 1894 at the age of 28 he married 22 year old Blanche Alexandrine (Adine) Seagram (1871-1919), the daughter of Joseph Emm Seagram, founder of Seagram Distilleries.

In 1917 while serving in WWI, George was walking the ground of Bath military hospital, where he was working, and fell off a cliff. He was found dead at the bottom of the cliff and was cremated in Bath. Adine was overseas at the time as well, volunteering for the Red Cross. After the death of her husband, Adine stayed on with the Red Cross for another year until she was forced to return to Berlin to look after her ill father. On July 19th, 1919 Adine was riding in a car with her brother Capt. Tom Seagram and her niece. The car was involved in a collision with another vehicle and Adine died of the injuries she sustained.