Alfred Goldsworthy Bailey was born in Québec City in 1905 and died in Fredericton in 1997. He received a BA from the University of New Brunswick in 1927 and a doctorate from the University of Toronto in 1934. In the same year he married Jean Craig, daughter of Samuel Alexander Hamilton of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
As a young man he worked as a reporter on the Toronto "Mail and Empire". He became assistant director and associate curator at the New Brunswick Museum in 1935. In 1938 he returned to the University of New Brunswick to become head of the History Department. In 1946 he became Dean of Arts and Honorary Librarian of the Bonar Law-Bennett Library. From 1965 to 1969 he was vice-president academic and on his retirement in 1970, became the first professor emeritus in history.
He taught history, anthropology, psychology and sociology. He wrote poetry and was largely responsible for founding the "Fiddlehead", one of Canada's oldest literary journals. From 1936-1937, Alfred Bailey was president of the Saint John Art Club and president of the Friends of the Library Association, Saint John in 1937. He collected biographical information about members of his family. Joseph Marshall de Brett Marechel D'Avray, second baron d'Avray (1811-1871) and his son-in-law Loring Woart Bailey, (1839-1925) .