Читать книгу A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography - Various - Страница 9

MAJOR-GEN. SIR. ARTHUR WILLIAM CURRIE

Victoria, B.C.

Cockshutt, William Foster, M.P., and Financial Agent (Brantford, Ont.), is the son of I. Cockshutt, merchant of Brantford, and E. Foster Cockshutt, was born in Brantford, October, 1855, and educated at the Brantford and Galt Collegiate Institutes. Mr. Cockshutt’s chief public efforts have been exercised in the direction of Imperial Unity and Empire Trade development. He has been associated largely with Boards of Trade and has attended several Congresses of the Associated Boards in London, England, Montreal and Sydney, Australia, and in this direction has been able to exercise considerable influence in Empire trade co-operation. In the year 1909 he visited in this connection the Commonwealth of Australia, making a very extensive tour of that great country, and delivering addresses at all the important centres on the theme of Empire Trade and Defence, and received much credit for the work accomplished there. He also made an extensive tour of India, visiting most of the cities of that great member of the Empire, and studying the conditions of the country as well as trade matters and has taken part in two extended campaigns in Great Britain, addressing many large meetings at the important centres, including London, Manchester, Newcastle, Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Torquay and many other towns and cities, for which he was honored by letter from the then leader of the opposition, the Honorable Arthur Balfour. Mr. Cockshutt was a member of the first Hydro-Electric Commission of Ontario, appointed by the Municipalities and labored in that work for nearly three years. The report of the Commission has been a standard reference for development in this line ever since, and was really the basis of the development that has taken place more recently at Niagara Falls. He has travelled in most of the great countries of Europe, made many tours in the United States and the West Indies and Mexico, as well as having visited all the principal cities of the Dominion and has addressed meetings in a great number of them. He was first elected to the House of Commons in 1904, where he served until 1908, being defeated in that year and re-elected in 1911, and is at present serving throughout the present long Parliament. He is ex-President of the Cockshutt Plow Co.; has been six times a delegate to Chambers of Commerce of the Empire and is connected with a large number of industrial enterprises, particularly in Brantford and also in other centres, and has served on many industrial boards. In 1891, married M. T. Ashton, daughter of Rev. Robert Ashton of Brantford, Principal of the Mohawk Institute and has six children, Ashton, George, Eric, Maude, Clarence and Phyllis. In politics he is an Independent Conservative and is a member of the Anglican Church; has been a representative of the Church of England at many important gatherings and a member of the Huron Synod for close on to twenty-five years, been elected and re-elected to the Provincial General Synod on many occasions and is still an active member of all these Church organizations; is also Chairman of the Orphanage situated on the outskirts of Brantford, known as the Jane Laycock School; has taken considerable interest in local hospital work. Mr. Cockshutt had the honor of being the official representative of Brantford at the funeral of King Edward the Seventh; is Hon. Colonel of the 125th Battalion, C.E.F., and is a remote relative of the late Florence Nightingale, the distinguished woman who did such great work for the British Army during the Crimean War and was one of the first women to relieve soldiers of their sufferings on the battlefield. Mr. Cockshutt took great interest in the recruiting of the 125th Battalion at present overseas and has the honor of being the father of three sons, all of whom are serving in the army at present and have all reached the front at least once. His son, Major Ashton Cockshutt, now of the 125th but formerly of the 10th Battalion, 1st Contingent, was a fully qualified Lieutenant in the 103rd Calgary Rifles when the war broke out and immediately enlisted and went overseas with the first Contingent, training during the winter at Salisbury Plain, crossing to France in the early spring, saw heavy fighting at St. Julien, Festubert, and Givenchy, was wounded on June 6, 1915, and after convalescing at various military hospitals was given furlough back to Canada and after a long hard struggle regained his health and immediately re-enlisted with the 125th Battalion and is now serving at Bramshott Camp. Another son, Lieut. George Cockshutt, also enlisted early in the war with the 19th Overseas Battalion, was a qualified Officer of the Dufferin Rifles, he served the 19th at the front for many months and was invalided home in September, 1916, owing to ear trouble and at the present time is serving with the 205th Machine Gun Section, and now overseas with 1st Tank Battalion. The third son, Lieut. Eric Cockshutt, was at one time Captain of the Cadet Corps of Upper Canada College, Toronto, and upon going to McGill University, Montreal, later joined the Officers Training Corps of that University, was accepted as a candidate at the Royal Artillery School at Kingston, March, 1915, and after duly qualifying, trained at Petawawa, going overseas from there with a draft, took further training at Ross Barracks and Woolwich and then crossed over to France and served with the First Divisional Artillery, First Canadian Brigade, and is at present serving with the 2nd Howitzers. Mr. Cockshutt is a member of the Brantford Golf and Country Club, the National Club, Toronto, and also connected with the Empire Club and Imperial Institute. His recreations include golf, tennis and skating, and he has spent many summers in the Highlands of Canada occupying an extensive tract of land on the shores of Lake of Bays.

Jetté, The Hon. Sir Louis, Chief Justice and late Lieutenant-Governor, was born at L’Assomption, P.Q., on January 15, 1836. He is the son of the late Amable Jetté, who married Miss Caroline Gauffreau, the daughter of a wealthy planter of Guadaloupe, in the West Indies. Finishing the full course of study at the College of L’Assomption, he became a member of the Provincial Bar, establishing himself as a legal practitioner in the city of Montreal, where in a few years he came to be recognized as an astute advocate as well as a prospective candidate for political honors. In 1870 his legal fame was enhanced by the part he took professionally in the famous Guibord Case, and by his service before the Privy Council in England in behalf of the Provincial Government of Quebec. At length, in 1872, he was elected member for Montreal East, defeating Sir George E. Cartier, the French-Canadian colleague of Sir John A. Macdonald. When the Liberal Leader, the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie was Prime Minister, Mr. Jetté was offered the position of Minister of Justice, but accepted in preference a place on the Bench. This he retained for twenty years up to 1898, when he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of his native province. While still practising his profession in Montreal, he became Professor of Civil Law in Laval University and a Dean of its Faculty, having been honored by the same with the degree of LL.D., as well as by Bishop’s College University with a D.C.L. and by Toronto University with an LL.D. In 1891 he was appointed Chairman of the Royal Commission charged with the investigation of affairs connected with the Baie-des-Chaleurs Railway, finally refusing to agree, however, to the decision of his two colleagues. The several other offices he has filled are many and important. After his term as Lieutenant-Governor had expired, he was given a second term. And at the end of his second term he was appointed Chief Justice of the Court of King’s Bench, retiring in 1911. Few Canadians have had so many honors conferred upon them as has Sir Louis Jetté. These include his university degrees; his knighthood from the King of England; his Legion of Honour from France, of which he is a Commander; the many addresses he has received from his fellow-members of the Bar, as well as from the people; not to speak of his receptions by King George and his late royal father, King Edward, and His Holiness the Pope. He has been associated with the Société de Legislation Comparée; with the Société d’Histoire Diplomatique of Paris (France); was a member of the Alaska Boundary Tribunal; a Director of the Montreal Polytechnic School; a member of the Council of Public Instruction, and an honorary member of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec. In his earlier years he was a contributor to certain city journals, having been editor of one of them known as “L’Ordre.” His “Observations Relating to the Code of Civil Procedure” proves him to be possessed of a wide vision and keen insight, both as a lawyer and a literary expositor. The encomiums which have been passed upon his services as a public servant go to show Chief Justice Sir Melbourne Tait was in no way astray in his high estimate of Sir Louis Jetté’s mental culture and administrative astuteness, not only as a public speaker, but as a writer and overseer of what is in line with justice and dignity of rule. He was married in 1862, to Miss Bertha Laflamme, daughter of the late Touissant Laflamme, and sister of the Hon. R. Laflamme, the distinguished barrister and advocate of Montreal. Lady Jetté, who is an authoress in her own right, having written a Life of Madame d’Youville, won a further good name for herself and her distinguished husband for the hospitalities they were always pleased to extend to their guests at Spencer Wood during the two terms and more of Governor Jetté’s residence there as Governor.

Kennedy, William Costello, Member for North Essex in the House of Commons of Canada, is a resident of Windsor, Ont., and a prominent figure in the oil and gas industry of the Essex Peninsula. He was born at Ottawa, Ont., August 27, 1868, the son of William and Julia (Costello) Kennedy. While he was yet a boy his parents moved to Toronto to reside and he was educated in the Separate Schools and De La Salle Institute, of that city. He began his business career in 1887 as a clerk in the offices of the London and Canadian Loan and Agency Company, Toronto, at that time one of the best known financial corporations of the province. With this company he remained until 1897 when he accepted an offer to go to Windsor, Ont., and engage in the oil and natural gas industry. In 1903 he became President of the Windsor Gas Company and continued in that office until 1917. At the present time he has many interests in the city of his adoption. He was President of the Board of Trade for the years 1909 and 1910, and a member of the Windsor Board of Education from 1913 to 1918; and also a councillor of the municipality of Ojibway during the same period. From early manhood Mr. Kennedy had been a Liberal in politics and in 1917 when Sir Robert Borden formed a Union Government and decided to carry out the policy of conscription without submitting the question to the Canadian people through the medium of a referendum, he was one of those Liberals who stood back of Sir Wilfrid Laurier in opposing such a course. Though at the time it was supposed that he was facing almost certain defeat he accepted the Liberal nomination for North Essex. He was opposed by Col. Wigle, who was generally regarded as a very strong candidate. In the two months’ campaign that ensued Mr. Kennedy made many friends by his sane and reasonable methods of electioneering and when the ballots were counted on December 17, 1917, it was found that he had been elected by a handsome majority, which was not annulled by the vote of the soldiers overseas, details of which were received later. During the parliamentary session Mr. Kennedy made his maiden speech as a legislator in the budget debate, and made a very fine impression on friends and political opponents alike by his brilliant handling of financial questions. Old parliamentarians were agreed that it was one of the most promising initial speeches ever made at Ottawa, and ever since the member for North Essex has been regarded as an important factor in the future of his party. His recreations are golf and motoring, and he is a member of the following clubs: Detroit, Detroit Athletic, Essex County Golf, Windsor and Ontario, Toronto. In religion he is a Roman Catholic and on May 8, 1907, married Glencora, daughter of George W. Bolton, Detroit, Michigan.

Mitchell, Robert Menzies, Hon. (Weyburn, Sask.), is a native of Port Union, Ont., where he was born October 28, 1865, the son of James Mitchell, a farmer, and Elizabeth Rodger, his wife. His father came of Scottish ancestry, some of whose descendants settled in Canada and some in Australia. Madame Melba, the great Australian prima donna, whose maiden name was Nellie Mitchell, is a cousin of the subject of this sketch. The latter was educated at Orangeville High School and Trinity Medical School, Toronto, graduating M.D., C.M. in April, 1892. He at once commenced the practice of medicine at Dundalk, Dufferin County, Ont., and remained there until 1899, when he settled at Weyburn, Sask., and continued in active practice there until 1907. He was Chairman of the Weyburn Public School Board for ten years, and of the High School Board for five years. In August, 1908, he was elected to the Saskatchewan Legislature as a Liberal for the constituency of Weyburn, and has been re-elected at each ensuing election. He was Chairman of the Private Bills and Railways Committee of the Legislature for six years, and was chosen as Deputy Speaker in 1916. Shortly afterward he was made Speaker, and on his return to the House after the general elections of 1917 was re-elected to that office. Though a Liberal his fairness and impartiality in the conduct of debate has made him universally popular among politicians of all shades of opinion. He is a member of the following fraternal orders: A.F. & A.M., I.O.O.F., and C.O.F.; of the Weyburn Club, and the Assiniboia Club, Regina. His recreations are football and curling, and in religion he is a Presbyterian. On August 17, 1892, he married Margaret, daughter of Donald and Flora McKinnon, Badjeros, Ont., and his two sons have both served their country with honor in the great war. R. C. Mitchell, born July 11, 1893, went overseas with the First Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1914, and D. J. Mitchell, born February 15, 1895, became a member of the Royal Air Force a year or so later.

Lemieux, the Honorable Sir François-Xavier, Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Quebec, was born at Levis on the 9th of April, 1851, the son of Antoine and Henriette (Lagueux) Lemieux. From the Levis College he entered the Quebec Seminary and afterwards graduated from Laval University, in 1872, taking the degree of LL.B. In the same year he started on his career as a lawyer in the city of Quebec, taking rank almost immediately as an efficient pleader in the criminal courts of the Lower St. Lawrence districts. His eloquent fluency and finesse as a defender brought him into a lucrative practice; and there were in time few prominent cases of criminality brought into court in which his services were not sought after. Nor did his legal acumen in winning cases arouse any envious feeling against him among his legal brethren, since in 1896 he was elected Batonnier of the Quebec Bar, and in the following year Batonnier-General of the Provincial Bar. Turning his attention to politics, he sat as member of Levis in the Legislative Assembly for nine years, and afterwards as member for Bonaventure, for three years. As an orator, he has a marvellous faculty on the hustings of carrying any large audience with him in his argument. At length the widest fame came to him when he was called upon to defend Louis Riel, the rebel leader of the half-breeds and Indians in the North-West, in 1885. The charge of high treason against the culprit was sustained, but his legal defender was nevertheless acclaimed as one of the shrewdest lawyers that could have been engaged to defend him. Subsequently, in 1892, he was chosen to defend the Honorable Honore Mercier, Premier of Quebec, before the criminal court, under charges of maladministration. Mr. Mercier was honorably acquitted. Five years after the subject of this biography was appointed Puisne Judge in the district of Arthabaska and afterwards in Sherbrooke. From Sherbrooke, he was finally removed to Quebec where he holds the office of Chief Justice for the Province of Quebec. The literary talents of Sir François have been proven by his lectures and essays. His acumen as a judge has been openly acknowledged by his professional associates. He is a citizen well worthy the honor conferred upon him by King George and by Laval University, in the one case of Knighthood and in the other an LL.D. His father-in-law, the late Justice Plamondon, was a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec, Miss Diana Plamondon becoming his wife in 1874.

Turgeon, The Hon. Adelard, LL.D., C.M.G., C.V.O., Knight of the Legion of Honour of France (Quebec City), President of the Legislative Council of the Province of Quebec, and a Governor of Laval University, was born at Beaumont in the Province of Quebec, on December 19, 1863. He is the son of Mr. Damase Turgeon, and was educated at Levis College and at Laval University. Called to the Bar in 1887, he opened a law office in Levis, but afterwards entered into partnership in Quebec with the prominent legal firm of Roy, Langlais & Godbout. His career as a parliamentarian was inaugurated by his election as member for Bellechasse in 1890, a constituency which he continued to represent up to 1909, when he retired from the Legislative Assembly to take his seat in the Legislative Council and assume the high office of Speaker or President of that body. While a member of the Assembly his eloquence became an attractive feature in the many important debates in which he took part, alike as Member and Minister. As an administrator and public-spirited citizen, he has taken high rank as a publicist, having retained the favor of Bellechasse from term to term for over a decade. During the Tercentennial Celebration at Quebec in 1908, he was honored by the Prince of Wales, now King George V, and was shortly afterwards chosen as one of the members of the National Battlefields Commission, which has ever since been engaged in laying out and beautifying one of the most spacious public parks in Canada. In 1897 he was called to join the Marchand Government as Minister of Colonization, holding the same office in the Parent Cabinet, until he was chosen to act as Minister of Agriculture and Provincial Secretary. In 1905, the Parent Administration was transformed into the Gouin Administration, and in the latter Mr. Turgeon accepted the portfolio of Lands and Forests, holding the same up to 1909. On resigning his seat in the Assembly as a challenge to some of his detractors, he was re-elected against Henri Bourassa by the electors of Bellechasse as an acknowledgement of his mature administrative abilities, and a warrant to his resuming his place in the Gouin Cabinet, as well as preparing the way for his being called to the high office of President of the Legislative Council. During his public career, he has held many important positions outside of his parliamentary functions, among these being President of the Quebec Land Company, Vice-President of the Provincial Securities Company, Director of the Quebec Transfer and Cartage Company, and member of the Comptoir Mobilier-Franco-Canadien Company. He was one of the founders of the Society of L’Union Liberale, and prominently connected with various political clubs. In July, 1887, he married Miss Eugenie Samson, the daughter of Mr. Etienne Samson, of Levis. As President of the Upper Chamber of the Provincial Parliament, Mr. Turgeon has his residence within the precincts of the Parliament Buildings, wherein his hospitalities form a prominent feature in the social life of the community when parliament is in session, as well as at other times.

Rhodes, Hon. Edgar Nelson, K.C., B.A., LL.B. (Amherst, N.S.), son of Nelson A. Rhodes and Sara D. C. Curry. Born at Amherst, N.S., on January 5, 1877. Educated at Amherst Academy, Horton Collegiate Academy, Acadia University and Dalhousie University. Degrees: B.A., Acadia; LL.B., Dalhousie. Member of the Board of Governors of Acadia University. Married, July 12, 1905, to M. Grace, second daughter of Hon. W. T. Pipes, K.C., Attorney-General of Nova Scotia. He is the father of the following children: Edgar N. Rhodes, Jr., born on April 19, 1906, and Helen S. Rhodes, born on October 18, 1907. Appointed a King’s Counsel in May, 1916, by the Provincial Government of Nova Scotia. President Brooklyn Lumber Company, Ltd.; director Nova Scotia Trust Co., Ltd.; British America Nickel Corporation, Ltd.; Amherst Boot & Shoe Company, Ltd., and Amherst Pianos, Ltd. Has been, since its inception, a member of the Dominion Executive and of the Nova Scotia Executive of the Canadian Patriotic Fund; also an Honorary Vice-President and member of the Dominion Council of the St. John’s Ambulance Association. First elected to House of Commons at General Elections, 1908; re-elected, 1911 and 1917. Elected Deputy-Speaker at the opening of the 6th session of the 12th Parliament, January, 1916. Was one of the Canadian representatives at the Imperial Parliamentary Conference in London, 1916, and accompanied the members of that body on their visit to the Munitions plants, The Fleet, and to the front. Elected Speaker of the House of Commons, January 18, 1917. Re-elected Speaker at the opening of the first session of the 13th Parliament, 1918. Member Rideau Club and Country Club, Ottawa. A Unionist. Amherst, N.S.

White, Rt. Hon. Sir William Thomas, P.C., M.P., Finance Minister of Canada, is a Canadian statesman whose meteoric rise to fame during less than a decade, has attracted more than national attention. He was born at Bronte, Ont., November 13, 1866, the son of James and Elizabeth (Graham) White. His father was a farmer and his early education was obtained at Oakville public school and Brampton High School. Later he entered Toronto University and graduated in 1895 with the degree of B.A. and honors in classics. During his university career he won two first-class scholarships and a gold medal. Subsequently he took up a course of law at Osgoode Hall, Toronto and was called to the Bar of the province in 1899, but never practised. During his period as an arts and law student he supported himself, first as a reporter on the Toronto “Telegram,” where his writings showed singular eloquence and ability; and later, as one of the assessors of the Civic Assessment Department. The knowledge of real estate values and of financial questions which he had gained in the latter capacity, as well as his general abilities, led a group of Toronto capitalists to tender him in 1900, the General Managership of the National Trust Company, which they had recently formed. This post he held for nearly eleven years and during that interval attained a high status in the financial community. Though a Liberal in politics, he had never been known as an active politician. In the summer of 1911, when Sir Wilfrid Laurier, then Prime Minister, appealed to the country to ratify the Knox-Fielding pact calling for reciprocity in natural products between Canada and the United States, Mr. W. T. White, as he was then known, was one of eighteen prominent Toronto Liberals who issued a manifesto against the proposals of their former political chieftain and decided to support Mr. Robert Borden. He himself took the platform against the pact as liable to disturb the equilibrium of trade at a time when Canada was enjoying unexampled prosperity. The result of this and other appeals was that many thousands of voters, previously Liberal, abandoned the party lines and defeated the Laurier administration by a large majority. When called upon to form a government in the latter part of September, 1911, Mr. Borden felt that it was due to the large number of Liberals who had supported him, that they should be represented in the Cabinet. On consultation with the leaders of the group, known as “Borden Liberals,” they were unanimously of the opinion that Mr. White was the best available choice. Despite the fact that he was without previous political experience, the Conservative Leader decided to offer him the most important portfolio in the Cabinet, that of the Ministry of Finance. On Mr. White’s accepting the office, a seat was found for him in the House of Commons by the elevation of Mr. George Taylor, M.P. for Leeds, and formerly Conservative whip, to the Senate. At a by-election held on November 4, 1911, Mr. White was elected to Parliament by a considerable majority, despite the fact that the election was marked by severe personal attacks on him, because of his so-called “desertion” of the Liberal party. Mr. White answered the challenge by the statement that he “believed that there was no healthier sign of the times than that an honest man should change his party in the interests of his country.” His maiden speech in the House of Commons, which was delivered on Nov. 29, 1911, was awaited throughout the country with great interest, and at once stamped him as one of the coming men in Canadian politics. Since then his budget speeches have proclaimed him as a financier of masterly intellect. Had Mr. White known in 1911 that the task lay before him of financing Canada’s contribution to the prosecution of the greatest war the world has ever known, he would possibly have declined office. When in 1914, Germany made war against all Europe, and Canada decided to support the Motherland, perhaps the gravest task of all fell on the Minister of Finance, because up to that time Canada had been a heavy borrower from the Motherland, and these sources of supply would naturally be cut off if the war continued for a lengthy period. In fact, in 1914, many eminent financiers believed that the financial resources of the world would not stand the strain of a war of more than six months’ duration. The Canadian Minister of Finance however laid his plans for a long war; and in addition to the task of financing Canada’s magnificent military effort, applied himself to the problem of keeping up Canada’s trade at a figure that would enable her to continue as a belligerent. He had also the task thrust upon him of acting as banker for Great Britain, France, Russia and other belligerents, who made the finance department at Ottawa the clearing house for their enormous financial dealings with the merchants and manufacturers of the United States. During the first year of the war Great Britain was able to render financial assistance to Canada and others of the overseas dominions; and Mr. White floated some large loans in the United States. But it was already apparent that Canada must shortly finance herself. In 1916 he visited England and fully acquainted himself with the situation, and in the same year was created a Knight Commander of St. Michael and St. George, in recognition of his war services. Sir Thomas decided to test Canada’s own resources and floated a large war loan the bulk of it being taken by Canadian capitalists, although a certain number of small investors were also attracted to it. Up to 1917, however, there were only about 60,000 holders of Canadian bonds in this country. In the summer of 1917, when Canada seemed to face a serious financial crisis, Sir Thomas decided to try the experiment of a great popular loan to be known as the Victory Loan, on the lines of the popular loans floated during the American Civil War, by the celebrated financier Jay Cooke. He collected a superb organization, embracing all the leading financiers, newspapers and selling agencies of Canada and asked the people to lend their government $300,000,000, to be spent entirely in Canada for war purposes. The result passed all expectations, for the loan was over-subscribed by more than one hundred million dollars, and about 875,000 became holders of Victory Bonds. Canada was enabled to do this by the fact that Sir Thomas and the Borden administration as a whole had, by adopting the policy of financing British credits in this country, secured enormous war orders for agricultural supplies and munitions for her farmers and manufacturers, so that the flow of money during the war reached unexampled heights. The first Victory Loan of 1917 was fruitful of good results, because it enabled Canada to continue this policy on a more extended scale, so that, though this enormous sum was invested in bonds, and added to the savings of the people, a few months later the average of deposits in the savings banks of the country was larger than it had been before the first Victory Loan was floated. In the latter part of 1917 the health of Sir Thomas broke down as a result of his stupendous anxieties and labors, but after a vacation of several months in California he returned to this country restored in health. In the autumn of 1918 he decided to float another Victory Loan, asking, as in 1917, for $300,000,000, but setting the real objective at $500,000,000. The result was another enormous over-subscription, nearly $700,000,000 having been subscribed. That such a showing should have been made by a country so limited in population as Canada, is the best proof of his skill as administrator of the nation’s finances during the most trying epoch in the history of the world. So thoroughly has Sir Thomas the confidence of his leader, Sir Robert Borden, that when in November, 1918, he left Canada for an indefinite absence as a member of the European Peace Conference, he appointed the Minister of Finance Acting Prime Minister, to take charge of the hazardous task of re-organizing the country on a peace basis. Sir Thomas is a profound student and thinker and a public speaker of rare ability. Among his activities prior to his removal to Ottawa were those of a member of the Board of Governors of Toronto University and Trustee of Toronto General Hospital. He is a Methodist in religion, and a member of the Rideau Club, Ottawa, and the York and Toronto Clubs, Toronto. On Sept. 20, 1890, he married Annie Isabel, daughter of Ellis Silverthorne, Jarvis, Ont.

Price, Sir William, the prominent capitalist of Quebec City, who has been engaged in military operations during the European War as Colonel of the 171st Battalion, at Valcartier, and later as an officer at the front, is a son of Mr. Henry Ferrier Price, who married Miss Florence Rogerson. He was born at Talca, Chili, on August 30, 1867. His uncle was the Hon. Senator E. J. Price, on whose death he became leading partner of the firm of Price Brothers & Company, in 1886. He was educated at Bishops College School, Lennoxville, P.Q., and later at St. Mark’s School, Windsor, England. He has been prominent in the public life as well as the business circles of Quebec, having been a member of parliament for one of the electoral divisions of the place and afterwards Chairman of the Harbor Commission. It was while he held the latter office that he took service as one of the organizers of the Valcartier Military Camp, earning high praise from the Governor-General and the Militia Department, and finally receiving his knighthood at the hands of King George. As Colonel in Command he raised the 171st Battalion, which he took over to England in 1916, continuing his services with the army as one of the officers of a Railway Construction Battalion in France, after the 171st had been absorbed in other battalions, in terms of what is known as the Territorial System. No citizen of Quebec has earned higher credit for patriotic effort than Sir William. Setting aside his many business duties and resigning a lucrative government position, he ably fulfilled the duties assigned to him as a soldier. The responsible positions he has held as a business man and a public-spirited citizen have been manifold. Besides being President of the Price Brothers & Company, he has been Director and Honorary Chairman of the Union Bank; a Director of the Quebec Railway, Light, Heat and Power Company; Vice-President of the Canadian Lumberman’s Association; as well as being President of the Metis Lumber Company, the Jonquiere Pulp and Paper Company, the Gravel Lumber Company, and President of the Canadian Export Co. Nor did his business engagements hinder him from taking an active part in civic and charitable enterprises to which he has given beneficently of his means. At one time he was a Governor of the Jeffrey Hale Hospital, President of the Board of Trade, Director of the Trans-Canadian Railway project, an energetic supporter of the movement in favor of the National Battlefields Park, and President of the Quebec Turf Club. As far back as 1887, he took a practical interest in local military affairs, having been a lieutenant in the Eighth Royal Rifles, and being raised to his captaincy before his withdrawal from that company in 1903. As a prelude to his activity as a military organizer at the Valcartier Camp, he raised two companies for service during the Boer War, and encouraged rifle practice by presenting the Price Cup for competition at the targets. As a parliamentarian he had a term of three years; but his earlier defeat in the Rimouski constituency was repeated by Quebec West in 1911. As has been well said of him, he has proved himself to be a citizen of whom any community might well be proud. He was married in 1894, to Miss Amelia Blanche Smith, daughter of Mr. R. H. Smith, another of Quebec’s most prominent and worthy lumber merchants. His family consists of four sons and two daughters. Sir William has since his early days been an enthusiast as a “portageur,” and a keen sportsman. He owns two salmon-breeding rivers and extensive hunting grounds. While soldiering abroad, he continued head of his firm, which has in its employment several thousands of employees.

Kemp, Hon. Sir Albert Edward (Toronto, Ont.), son of Robert Kemp, an Englishman, and Sarah A. Kemp, his wife, a Canadian; born at Clarenceville, Que., August 11, 1858, and educated at Clarenceville and Lacolle Academy. For many years the subject of this sketch has been one of the leading manufacturers of Canada, and a successful business man. Since 1895 he has devoted considerable time to questions of public interest. In 1879 he married a Miss Wilson, of Montreal. He was President of the Canadian Manufacturers Association in 1895 and was re-elected in 1896. He was elected President of the Toronto Board of Trade for the year 1899, and re-elected in 1900. In 1898 he was appointed a delegate by the Board to the British Association, at its annual meeting held in Bristol, also to the Fourth Congress of the Chambers of Commerce of the Empire, held in London, June, 1900. He is a member of the Board of Regents of Victoria University, Toronto; a member of several Orders, among which is included the Orange Order, and many National and Philanthropic Societies. Mr. Kemp was first elected to the House of Commons at the general elections in 1900, and again returned in 1904. In 1908 he was defeated, but was re-elected at the general elections in 1911 by a very large majority. Upon the resignation of Sir Wilfrid Laurier and his Cabinet on October 6, 1911, following the defeat of the Liberal Party at the polls the previous September, he joined the Borden Government as Minister without Portfolio, and was sworn in a member of the Privy Council for Canada on October 10, 1911. After the outbreak of the war he was called upon by his Government to assume many important positions, among which was included the Chairmanship of the War Supplies Purchasing Commission, a position that required the keenest foresight, courage and action, and which practically demanded all his time. It later developed that the Government made no mistake in placing him at the head of this Commission, and great credit is due him for the manner in which he conducted its affairs. Upon the resignation of Sir Sam Hughes, Minister of Militia in the Borden Government, in November, 1916, Mr. Kemp was asked by Sir Robert Borden to accept the position as Minister of Militia, and accepted, and on December 14, 1916, was re-elected by acclamation by his constituents in East Toronto. Subsequently he was asked to accept the post of Overseas Minister, resident in London, and in this capacity he served throughout the momentous period of 1918, when he was directly in touch with Canada’s Army in France. In social life he has many friends, and is always ready to receive them in a manner that draws them closer to him. As a public man there is a great future before him, and he has won praise for having accepted office at the most critical moment in the history of Canada. When the greatest war the world has known draws to a close, and the history of the noble sons who fought and worked with the Allies in their different nations is written, the name of Hon. Albert Edward Kemp will come in for a full share of credit for the able and systematic methods adopted in helping the Motherland to continue to wave the flag that stands for freedom and justice. In religion he is a Methodist.

E.J. Beaumont, KITCHENER

M.G. Bristow, OTTAWA

Cameron, Lieut.-Colonel Sir Douglas, K.C.M.G., ex-Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba (Winnipeg, Man.), was born in Prescott County, Ont., June 18, 1854, the son of Colin and Annie Cameron, and was educated at the High School, Vankleek Hill, Ont. He was engaged in farming in the Province of Ontario from 1871 to 1880, afterwards moving to Winnipeg, in 1880. He engaged in various occupations until the fall of 1883, when he entered the lumber business under the firm name of Cameron & Company; later, Cameron & Kennedy. The business was incorporated as the Ontario & Western Lumber Company in 1892, and was later changed to the Rat Portage Lumber Company, and he has acted as General Manager since 1892, and President since 1894. He is also President of the Maple Leaf Flour Mills, a Director of the Northern Crown Bank, and a Director of the Manitoba Bridge and Iron Company. In 1902 he was elected to the Ontario Legislature for Fort William and Lake-of-the-Woods, and was defeated in the general elections of 1905 and 1908; was also an unsuccessful candidate for the House of Commons for Winnipeg in the Federal general elections in 1908. On August 1, 1911, he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Manitoba, which office he filled with the greatest satisfaction until succeeded by the present incumbent, Sir James Albert Manning Aikins, K.B. He was a Councillor for Rat Portage in 1891, and Mayor from 1891 to 1894; was appointed a K.C.M.G., December 31, 1913. In 1910 he was appointed Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of the 79th Highlanders, and has been very active in connection with the Militia since the outbreak of the war, as well as in Patriotic work. He married Margaret Cameron Ferguson, of Vankleek Hill, in 1880, to whom were born two sons and one daughter; is a member of the Manitoba Club and the St. Charles Country Club, and as a recreation is an admirer of horses. Sir Douglas is a staunch Liberal in politics, and is considered, by the leaders of his party, as one of the ablest statesmen in Canada. In religion he is a Presbyterian and an active worker in Church and Social Reform movements.

Bégin, Louis Nazaire, Cardinal Archbishop of Quebec, was born on January 10, 1840. He is the son of Charles Bégin, of Levis, his mother’s maiden name having been Miss Luce Paradis. His earlier education was had in the schools and colleges of the Quebec district, up to the time of his leaving for Europe, to prepare himself as a priest and professor. Ordained in Rome in 1865, he returned to Quebec to assume the duties of Professor of Theology and Church History in Laval University, with collateral duties for a time as Prefect of Studies in what is known as Le Petit Séminaire. It was in 1885 he was appointed Principal of Laval Normal School at the time that institution occupied the premises of the old Chateau Haldimand, over the site of which the spacious Chateau Frontenac now extends its massive wings. Three years after, he was named Bishop of Chicoutimi, eventually returning to Quebec to take up his residence in the Archbishop’s Palace as Coadjutor of Cardinal Taschereau, under the title of Archbishop of Cyrene. From 1894 to 1898, he continued to be the Administrator of the Archdiocese of Quebec, during the declining years of Cardinal Taschereau. On the death of the latter, he succeeded him in the See of Quebec, the ceremony of his official investiture in 1899 being an historic event of the greatest interest to the whole province, as was the later celebration of his election as a Cardinal under the title of Saint Vitalis. The details of the distinguished ecclesiastic’s career form a brilliant page in the annals of Canada. Alike at home and abroad, His Eminence Cardinal Bégin has ever been known to fulfil his duty towards his Church and as a loyal citizen of Canada. Frequently he has been called to foreign parts to share in celebrations, such as the solemn coronation ceremonies of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Mexico City, in 1895, where he preached one of the memorial sermons, as well as at Rheims, during a like celebration in 1896, and at Grosse Isle in 1909, when he was the principal speaker at the unveiling of the monument erected to the memory of the Irish immigrants who had fallen victims to the typhus epidemic in 1847. He has also been several times a guest at the Vatican, having enjoyed the confidence of the three successive popes, Leo XIII, Pius X, and Benedict XV, from the last of whom he received his red hat. He has ever been a participant in all the public movements that tended to improve the social and educational conditions in his diocese, having taken a leading part in the founding of one of the leading newspapers of Quebec, known as “L’Action Catholique” and having likewise obtained the restoration of the Cathedral Chapter of Quebec, an institution that had become extinct from the days of the Conquest. He was prominent in the enterprise of unveiling a monument to the memory of Bishop Laval, as he has also been in the various efforts put forth towards beautifying the city with parks and monumental structures commemorative of historic events. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and has been honored by scholastic degrees of the highest merit, bestowed on him by the University of Innsbruck, in Austria, as well as those he has received from Laval and the Gregorian University of Rome. He virtually began his professional career as a teacher of the young, and has never lost his zeal in promoting, as a Member of the Council of Public Instruction, the reforms that make for a right pedagogy in school and college work. His pen has been an active one in adding to the literature to be found in the library collections of his Church, such as “La Règle de Foi” and the “Culte Catholique” not to speak of his writings on Canadian historical topics, as for instance, his “Chronologie d’Histoire du Canada,” his pastoral letters on the “Three Hundredth Anniversary of the Foundation of Quebec,” and his address on the “Second Centenary of the Death of Bishop Laval.” So wide is his knowledge of human affairs, so urbane is he in his manner and so just in his decisions, so charitable is he in his approach to the two sides of a public question, that he has more than once been called upon to act as arbitrator between employer and employees. During the many years of his episcopate he has organized over fifty new parishes, and has never failed to urge the building of spacious churches and school-houses and convents in the most of them. The events of his life have been for the most part the events of his native province and of Canada as well. Even during his travels abroad he always seems to have had in his mind the maturing of a policy of betterment for his people, and the fostering of good will among the various elements of the populations of Canada.

Langelier, The Honorable Sir François-Xavier, Statesman, and Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, comes of very distinguished ancestry, and is one of the most respected, capable and learned of French-Canadian gentlemen, who has taken a leading part in the public life of Canada, and by his brilliant achievements, ripe scholarship and administrative ability, has served as an inspiration and shining example to all who would win a high place in the confidence and esteem of their fellow-countrymen. His parents were Louis Sabastien Langelier and Julie Esther (Cassault). Paternal ancestor came to Canada from Fresquiennes, near Rouen, Normandy, 1652; mother’s family from Granville, France; born at Ste. Rosalie, Province of Quebec, Dec. 24, 1838. Educated at St. Hyacinthe College and Laval University (LL.B., 1860; LL.L., avec grande distinction, 1861; LL.D., 1878), and Paris, France; D.C.L. (honorary) Lennoxville, 1903; married, first Feb., 1884, Virginie Sarah Sophie (died May, 1891), daughter of the late I. Legare, Quebec; secondly, May, 1892, Marie Louise, daughter of late Frederic Braun, late Civil Service, Ottawa; advocate, 1861; was one of the leaders of the Provincial Bar; K.C. (Province Quebec), 1878; also created K.C. by Dominion Government, 1880 (Marquis of Lorne); Batonnier (district Quebec) 1887; Batonnier-General of the Province, 1888; practised his profession successfully in the city of Quebec, where he was many years, from 1866, a member of the law faculty, Laval University, and subsequently, Dean of the Faculty and a member of the Council of the University; was also Vice-President of the Canadian Bar Association; President of the Institute Canadien and President of the Council of the Arts and Manufacturers’ Association; served as Mayor of Quebec, 1882–90; entered political life as a Liberal, and a free trader; was in turn a follower of Mackenzie, Blake and Laurier; unsuccessfully contested Bagot (Local), 1871; subsequently successively sat for Montmagny and Portneuf; sat for Megantic (House of Commons), 1884–87, and for Quebec Centre, 1887–1898; was Commissioner of Crown Lands and Treasurer, successively, in the local Administration of Sir H. G. Joly de Lotbinière, 1878–89; one of the signers of the address from the Liberal party to the Pope, 1896, resulting in the appointment of a Papal ablegate to Canada; a puisne Judge of Supreme Court of Province of Quebec, Jan. 14, 1898; delegated to perform the duties of the Chief Justice for the District of Quebec, June 6, 1906; as Chief Justice, became a member of the Board of Arbitrators, appointed 1891, for the settlement of accounts outstanding at Confederation between the Dominion and the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario; acted as Administrator of the Government of Quebec during the absence of Sir L. A. Jetté, 1903; knighted by his late Majesty King Edward, 1907; and made a Knight of Grace in the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in England in 1912; appointed Lieutenant-Governor, Province of Quebec, May, 1911; died February 8, 1915; has served as a Royal Commissioner on several occasions; was prominently identified with the movement for the organization of the Anti-Alcoholic League and its first President, 1907; was also President of the special committee appointed in connection with the tercentenary of the foundation of Quebec, 1906. Elected F.R.S.O., 1908; President, 1910; in addition to other legal productions, is the author of “Traite de la preuve, en matiere civile et commerciale,” and of “Cours de Droit Civil de Quebec.” Is the father of the following children: Juliette, Braun, who took service in the present war, was wounded three times, got the military cross for his bravery, and was promoted captain in the 22nd Batt. French Canadians; Françoise, Marc and Gerard. His Honor is a member of the following clubs: The Quebec Garrison and The Canadian. In religion, a Roman Catholic.

Lynch, Hon. William Warren, B.C., Q.C., D.C.L., LL.D., was born near the Village of Bedford, County of Missisquoi, Province of Quebec, on September 30, 1845. His father, Thomas Lynch, came from the County of Cavan, Ireland, about the year 1830. He served during the Canadian Rebellion in the Shefford Troop of Cavalry, and died at Knowlton, Brome County, on March 19, 1883. His mother, Charlotte R. Williams, was born at Stukely, County of Shefford, Province of Quebec, in the year 1805. Her parents were descendants of U.E. Loyalists, who came from the State of Vermont at the close of the American Revolutionary War. She died in 1885. Mr. Lynch, after taking advantage of the elementary schools in the vicinity of his birthplace, went to Stanbridge Academy in 1858, then a most flourishing institution, under the direction of Hobart Butler, M.A., where he prepared himself for a university course. During his last years at Stanbridge he acted as assistant teacher to Mr. Butler, and then entered the University of Vermont, Burlington, in August, 1861, but owing to the Civil War, which had shortly before broken out, the university course was considerably affected, and Mr. Lynch did not continue his studies there. In September, 1862, he entered the Arts Course of McGill University, Montreal, having secured one of the scholarships offered at a competitive examination. His health failing, he was obliged to abandon his studies before the Christmas examinations. He then engaged in school teaching in winter, and worked on his father’s farm in summer. In 1865 he was admitted to the study of the law, and pursued his studies in the office, first of S. W. Foster, of Knowlton, and afterwards of John Monk, of Montreal. He took his degree of B.C.L. at McGill in May, 1868, and secured the Elizabeth Torrance gold medal, and was admitted to practice in June. The following year he commenced the practice of his profession at Knowlton, and subsequently removed to Sweetsburg, the chef lieu of Bedford District. In the fall of 1870 he assumed the editorial control of the “Observer,” which was started at Cowansville, an adjoining village, and which became an influential organ of public opinion in the district. In June, 1871, during the provincial elections, which were then in progress, he went to Knowlton to report for his paper the proceedings of nomination day. There were then two candidates in the field, and to the surprise of Mr. Lynch, and without his interference, both candidates withdrew, and he was declared member elect for the County of Brome. During the Fenian troubles of 1866 Mr. Lynch took an active part in the formation of a company of volunteers at Brome, of which he became lieutenant, and remained such until his resignation in 1871. During the Fenian raid of 1870 he was at the front with his battalion. In keeping with the promise made to his electors, he became a resident of the County of Brome, returning to Knowlton in the fall of 1871. He has held successively the offices of school commissioner and chairman of that body for a number of years; and was also the Mayor of the Township of Brome, and Warden of the County. In May, 1874, he married Ellen Florence, eldest daughter of J. C. Pettes, a successful merchant of Knowlton, by whom he has two children. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and was some years since, deputy grand master for the District of Bedford. Mr. Lynch early in life identified himself with the Conservative party, to which he has ever borne faithful allegiance. He took an active part in the political discussions in the Legislature of Quebec on the subject of the dismissal of the De Boucherville Government, by M. Letellier, and it was upon a motion made by him that the Joly Government were defeated on October 30, 1879. He was made a Q.C. by the Joly Government in 1879, which was subsequently ratified by a similar title conferred upon him by the Federal authorities in 1881. When M. Chapleau assumed office as premier of the province, he invited Mr. Lynch to the council as Solicitor-General, which appointment was subsequently ratified by the electorate of Brome. On the abolition of the office of Solicitor-General, Mr. Lynch was appointed Commissioner of Crown Lands, on July 31, 1882. In September, 1887, his constituents tendered him a reception in the shape of a picnic, which was attended by a large number of public men, and at which a presentation of a handsome sum of money was made to him by his political admirers and friends. He then went to Montreal to resume the practice of his profession, in partnership with the present Mr. Justice Archibald and Mr. Geo. G. Foster, K.C. Shortly after, he was appointed by the Dominion Government a Commissioner, in conjunction with the late Mr. Justice Burridge, then Deputy Minister of Justice, and Mr. Dingman, of the Department of the Interior, to settle the Indian title to certain lands in the Township of Dundee, County of Huntington, and continued to hold that office during the successive administrations of Messrs. Mousseau, Ross and Taillon, and until the defeat of the last-named administration in January, 1887. During the session of 1887 he was named by the House of Assembly one of the Commissioners to perfect the revision of the provincial statutes. He was one of the leaders of the Opposition to the Government of the late Honore Mercier until his appointment to the bench in July, 1889, as Judge of the Superior Court for the District of Bedford, his native district. He has always taken a warm interest in educational matters, was twice President of the Provincial Association of Protestant Teachers, was for some years a member of the Protestant Committee of the Council of Public Instruction, and was the first President of the District of Bedford McGill Graduates’ Society. In June, 1883, the University of Bishops’ College offered him the degree of D.C.L., but owing to absence it was not conferred. In 1904, McGill University gave him the degree of LL.D. He is a devoted member of the Church of England and has often been a delegate to its synods. Since he became judge he has devoted his leisure to the promotion of various matters of local concern, such as good roads, historical societies and the Knowlton Conference.

Parmelee, William George, LL.D., D.C.L. (Quebec City), English Secretary of the Department of Public Instruction, and Joint Secretary of the Council of Public Instruction of the Province of Quebec, was born at Waterloo, in the Eastern Townships, in 1860. He is a son of Rufus E. Parmelee, whose father had come originally from the United States. On the mother’s side, the subject of this sketch is of Scottish descent. He received his early education at Waterloo Academy, finally graduating as a teacher from the McGill Normal School of Montreal. He afterward became head master of the Model School Department and, later, a Professor of the Normal School. Previous to his holding these positions, he had been a member of the staff of St. Francis College, Richmond, P.Q., from 1881 to 1885. From McGill Normal School he was selected for his present position in 1891; and for more than a quarter of a century he has been in touch with the educational affairs of Quebec. He has proved himself a departmental administrator of widely recognized professional acumen. The academic honors that have been bestowed upon him from the time of his extra-mural course at Queen’s University, from which he graduated in 1889, stand as an endorsation of his scholarship, these including a D.C.L. from Bishop’s College in 1902, and an LL.D. from McGill University in 1911. He has likewise been honored by being chosen more than once, President of the Teachers’ Association of his native province; President of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec for three several terms; President of the Young Men’s Association; a delegate to the Federal Council of the United Empire Educational League in London, England, and later on as a delegate to the Imperial Conference on Education in the same centre. Taking an interest in local military affairs he was awarded a Captaincy in the 8th Royal Rifles Company, and later on received the honorary rank of Colonel. Nor has he neglected literary pursuits in his spare moments, having had published two of his papers read before the Literary and Historical Society, and entitled, “Wolfe as a Man and a Soldier,” and “The Fraser Highlanders.” He has also won high literary credit as joint-collaborateur with Dr. Arthur Doughty, the Dominion Archivist, in six volumes dealing with the “Siege of Quebec.” In 1886 he married Miss Louise Foss, of Waterloo. Their family consists of four daughters.