John Stansfield was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and worked as an oil prospector for the Rajah of Sarawak before coming to McGill in 1910. From 1910 to 1919 he was lecturer in geology, and consulted for the Geological Survey of Canada. He left McGill to undertake exploration for the Standard Oil Company.

Alfred Stansfield was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, and graduated from the Royal School of Mines in 1891. From 1891 to 1898 he served as research assistant in W. Roberts Austen's laboratories at the Royal Mint. He later obtained his B.Sc. and D.Sc. degrees from London University and in 1898 joined the staff of the Royal School of Mines. In 1901 Stansfield became Professor of metallurgy at McGill and was appointed Birks Professor of Metallurgy in 1912. He retired from McGill in 1936 as Professor Emeritus. Stansfield wrote a number of articles and papers, as well as two important volumes on his specialty, The Electric Furnace (1914, 2nd ed.) and The Electric Furnace for Iron and Steel (1923).