- CA QUA00858
- Persona
- 1787-1860
Merchant, member of Legislative Council, Gananoque, Ont.
Merchant, member of Legislative Council, Gananoque, Ont.
Born in Kingston in 1884, James MacKerras Macdonnell attended Queen's University, graduating in 1905 with his Master of Arts degree. In that year he was the Rhodes scholar for Ontario, and in 1908 he graduated from Oxford University with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Upon his return to Canada he enrolled in the Ontario Law School, Osgoode Hall and was called to the bar in 1911. From 1911 to 1944 Mr. Macdonnell held various positions with the National Trust Company, resigning as President to seek election to the House of Commons. He was elected in 1945 for the riding of Muskoka-Ontario and was named financial critic for the Progressive Conservative Party. He remained active in politics until 1962. He was awarded the Companion of the Order of Canada on December 22 1967. Macdonnell died on July 27 1973.
William McNeill was born in Lower Montague, Prince Edward Island and was educated at Acadia University and Harvard. After teaching at Bates College for three years, he returned to Harvard where he earned a PhD in English in 1909.
He joined Queen's English Department the same year as an Assistant Professor and quickly gained a reputation as a precise scholar. He served as acting department head in 1913-14 and was appointed department head in 1920, but only held the position for three weeks. Former principal Daniel Miner Gordon convinced the Board of Trustees that McNeill was a dull and uninspiring teacher and persuaded them to move him to the recently vacated position of Registrar and Treasurer.
It was a humiliating blow for McNeill, who never wanted to be anything but a scholar, but he buried his humiliation in work and soon demonstrated an unusual talent for administration and financial management. He proved himself so indispensable to the university that he was appointed Vice-Principal in 1930, but still held the position of Treasurer as well. Between 1930 and 1936, during the Principalship of William Hamilton Fyfe, McNeill virtually ran the university because Fyfe disliked administrative duties.
He urged the Trustees of Queen's to safeguard the University's endowment, and his wisdom was applauded during the Depression. He was known for his penny-pinching during these lean years, and although many resented his strict financial control, the Queen's community was proud of the fact that it did not reduce salaries during the Depression as most other universities did. McNeill produced a balanced budget every year, and somehow managed to cut $100,000 from expenditures. He was known to count packets of 1000 envelopes to check if they were all there, and to turn down a professor's request for a pencil sharpener because there was already one on another floor in the same building.
It was largely to his credit that Queen's survived the Depression without drastic cutbacks. He remained Vice-Principal and a powerful figure at Queen's until his retirement in 1947, after which he served on the Board of Trustees.
McNeill was granted honorary degrees by three universities, including Queen's. He willed his house at 32 Queen's Crescent (now Bader Lane) to the university and it now serves as the Ban Righ Centre. McNeill House is named in his honour.
McNeill's wife, Caroline McNeill, was Queen's first Dean of Women and later a professor of Spanish and Italian.
McNeill is buried in the Cataraqui Cemetery.
Hazel MacTaggart was a bibliographer in Toronto, Ontario.
Charles Norton Mallory was born at Escott in Leeds County in 1859. He attended Albert College in Belleville until 1884 when he entered Queen's University at Kingston. He graduated with a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Kingston, Ontario in 1888. Mallory practiced as a medical doctor in Delta, Ontario from 1889 until his death on February 10th, 1910.
Paul Joseph James Martin was born at Ottawa in 1903. d at Windsor 14 Sept 1992). First elected to the House of Commons in 1935, Martin quickly took a prominent place in Liberal ranks because of his impressive educational background in philosophy, international relations and law. PM King appointed him parliamentary assistant to the minister of labour in 1943; he entered Cabinet in 1945 as secretary of state, and in 1946 became minister of national health and welfare (now HEALTH CANADA). Faced with a government becoming increasingly conservative on social issues, Martin managed to introduce a system of health grants and, by threatening resignation, made PM ST. LAURENT accept national health insurance. He also undertook diplomatic assignments for the King and St. Laurent governments. In 1955 he negotiated an agreement that allowed the expansion of UN membership. Martin ran unsuccessfully for the Liberal leadership in 1948 and 1958. In 1963 PM PEARSON appointed Martin secretary of state for external affairs, a portfolio he held until 1968, when he tried again for the leadership but lost to Pierre TRUDEAU. He was appointed government leader in the Senate (1968-74) and high commissioner to Britain (1975-79). His memoirs, A Very Public Life, have been published in 2 volumes (1983, 1986).