KNIGHTHOODS TO CANADIANS VISCOUNT BARONS BARONETS KNIGHT BACHELORS KNIGHT OF THE GARTER KNIGHT OF THE THISTLE THE MOST EMINENT ORDER OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE (GCIE / KCIE / CIE) THE MOST EXALTED ORDER OF THE STAR OF INDIA (GCSI / KCSI / CSI) UPDATED: 01 September 2020 PAGES: 92 ================================================= ================================================= Prepared by: John Blatherwick, CM, CStJ, OBC, CD, MD, FRCP(C), LLD (Hon) 1 V I S C O U N T S LG+ / CG NAME TITLE POSITION DECORATIONS / 22/07/1941+ BENNETT Richard Bedford Viscount Cdn Prime Minister KStJ 13/02/1937+ GREENWOOD, Thomas Hamar Viscount Treasurer British Conservatives ---- 1 12/07/1921+ PIRRIE, William James Viscount Lord Lieutenant of Belfast KP ======================================================================================== 1 Viscounts Bennett, Greenwood and Pirrie 2 V I S C O U N T Appointed by the British Government to a Canadian 22/07/1941+ BENNETT, Richard Bedford Prime Minister of Canada (1930 - 1935) Hopewell Hill, Albert County, New Brunswick Created Viscount Bennett of Mickleham, Calgary, and Hopewell Bennett did not receive any honours while serving as Prime Minister except being made a Knight of Grace of the Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (KStJ) in December 1932. He was made a Viscount after he moved to Britain in 1939. "The KING has been graciously pleased on the occasion of the celebration of His Majesty's Birthday to signify his intention of conferring Peerages of the United Kingdom on the following: To be Viscount: "The Right Honourable Richard Bedford BENNETT, LL.D., D.C.L., J.P. " Richard Bedford Bennett, 1st Viscount Bennett He was born on 3 July 1870 in Hopewell Hill, New Brunswick and grew up in nearby Hopewell Cape. He attended law school at Dalhousie University in 1890 and graduated in 1893. He then worked as a lawyer in Chatham, N.B. Max Aitken was his office boy. He moved to Calgary in 1897 to work with Sir James Lougheed. He was first elected to the Northwest Territories Government for Calgary East in 1898 through to the general election of 1902. He resigned his seat to run in the Federal Election in 1901, lost that election and won the by-election in 1901 to replace himself. He was elected in 1911 to represent Calgary in the Federal Parliament but did not run in 1917. He ran in the 1925 election and was briefly the Minister of Finance in Meighan’s government. After Meighan’s defeat, he became the leader of the Conservative Government. He became the 11 th Prime Minister of Canada from 07 August 1930 to 23 October 1935, the heart of the Great Depression. After being defeated in 1935, he moved to England in 1938 and died there on 26 June 1947. He is the only Canadian Prime Minister not buried in Canada. He was elevated to the peerage as Viscount Bennett in 1941. Being a bachelor, he had no heirs and thus the Viscountcy became extinct on his death. He was the Honorary Colonel of The Calgary Highlanders from the year of their designation as such in 1921 to his death in 1947. He was a controlling owner of the E.B. Eddy match company, which was the largest safety match manufacturer in Canada, and he was one of the richest Canadians at that time. ======================================================================================== ======================================================================================== 3 V I S C O U N T Appointed by the British Government to a person born in Canada 13/02/1937+ GREENWOOD, Thomas Hamar (formerly Thomas Hubbard) Chief Secretary for Ireland Viscount Greenwood of Holbourne Born: 07 February 1870, Whitby, Ontario Father: John Hamar Greenwood; Welshman Emigrated: To Canada in the Whitby area in 1850 at age 21 Lawyer – He became the Mayor of Whitby, Ontario Name Change: Thomas Hubbard Greenwood changed his middle name to Hamar New Name: Thus he became Thomas Hamar Greenwood and he went by Hamar Greenwood Educated: Whitby Collegiate University of Toronto – BA Honours in Political Science Cdn Military: 2nd Lieutenant in the 34 th Ontario Battalion of Infantry Now the Ontario Regiment Royal Canadian Armoured Corps Emigrated: To England in 1895 Occupation: Teacher in Manchester Temperance Speaker He was involved in a serious bus accident Elected: British General Election of 1906 - Elected Member of Parliament in the City of York - Winston Churchill (then Undersecretary of State) appointed him as his Parliamentary Private Secretary. Married: 1911 - Margery Spencer of Hertfordshire British Army: Joined King Edward’s Horse as a subaltern in 1902 Captain in 1905 Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel 1914 Served with the Department of Recruiting at the War Office Raised the 10 th Battalion of South Wales Borders Took the 10th Battalion of South Wales Borders to France in 1915 Created Baronet on 08 February 1915 Parliament: Became Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade when Lloyd George became Prime Minister Made a Member of the Privy Council in 1920 Position: In 1920, Chief Secretary for Ireland (last Chief Secretary for Ireland) Chancellor of the Order of St. Patrick 1920 to 1922 Signed the document creating the Irish Free State in 1922 Lost his Parliamentary seat in 1922 Re-elected to Parliament as a Conservative in 1924 Position: In 1929 became the Treasurer for the Conservative Party Created Baron Greenwood of Llambister in the County of Radnor on 31 August 1929 Lord Greenwood Created Viscount Greenwood of Holbourne on 16 February 1937 Viscount Greenwood Position: President of the British Iron and Steel Federation 1938 to 1939 Chairman of the Pilgrims Society from 1945 to 1948 President of the Pilgrims Society in 1948 Died: 10 September 1948 in London and is buried in Hertfordshire 4 V I S C O U N T Appointed by the British Government to a person born in Canada 12 July 1921+ William James PIRRIE, KP, PC (Ire) Viscount Pirrie of the City of Belfast Born: 31 May 1847, Quebec Canada Lived at Conlig, County Down, Ireland after age 2 Educated: Royal Belfast Academical Institution Worked: Harland and Wolff (1862) in Ship Building (Sole constructor for the White Star Line) Became a partner in Harland and Wolff Chairman of Harland and Wolff from 1895 until he died (1924) Formed: International Mercantile Marine (Consolidated maritime transport in North America which benefited \ Harland and Wolff) Mayor: Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1896 to 1897 P.C.: Irish Privy Counsellor (PC) in 1897 Baron: Baron Pirrie of Belfast in 1906 K.P. Knight of St. Patrick (only Canadian born member) 05 February 1909 Comptroller: Comptroller of the Household of the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland Lord-Lieutenant was the King’s Representative in Ireland Lord-Lieutenant: Lord-Lieutenant of Belfast 04 November 1911 to 06 June 1924 Titanic: Built by Harland and Wolff Missed the April 1912 sailing due to illness WWI: War Office Supply Board Comptroller-General of Merchant Shipbuilding in 1918 Senate: Elected to the Northern Ireland Senate in 1921 Viscount: Viscount Pirrie in 12 July 1921 (on King George V visit to Belfast) Died: At sea on 06 June 1924 on a business tour in South America ======================================================================================== 5 OLD CANADIAN TITLE (BARON) 1700 BARON DE LONGUEUIL Created by Louis XIV, King of France Quebec As this knighthood existed prior to the Treaty of Paris (1763), it was recognized by Queen Victoria pursuant to that treaty on the creation of the Dominion of Canada 1 July 1867. Reginald d'Iberville Charles Grant ======================================================================================== ======================================================================================== B A R O N S Appointed by the Crown to CANADIANS 26/06/1891+ STEPHEN, George President of the C.P.R. 1881 - 1888 Dufftown, Banffshire, Scotland (age 21) Baronet (1886) GCVO (1905) First Baron Mount Stephen of Mount Stephen in the Province of British Columbia and the Dominion of Canada and of Dufftown in the county of Banff Lord Mount Stephen ======================================================================================== 6 B A R O N S Appointed by the Crown to CANADIANS 14 August 1891+ MACDONALD, Susan Agnes Lady Macdonald Widow of the Right Honourable Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, Prime Minister of the Dominion of Canada. Appointed under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland the granting of the dignity of a Baroness of the said United Kingdom By the name, style and title of Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe, in the Province of Ontario, and Dominion of Canada At her decease the dignity of a Baron of the said United Kingdom to the heirs male of her body lawfully begotten, by the name, style and title of Baron Macdonald of Earnscliffe, in the Province of Ontario, and Dominion of Canada. Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe Born: 24 August 1836, at Bernard Lodge, South of Spanish Town, Jamaica Susan Agnes Bernard Married: 16 February 1857 to Sir John A. Macdonald (2 nd wife) – he was 52 Child: Margaret Mary Theodora Macdonald (1869 – 1933) who was born with hydrocephalus and suffered from physical and mental disabilities. Died: 05 September 1920 at Eastbourne (south coast of England) She was brought up in Jamaica and England. She came to Canada with her mother to live with her brother. It was through her brother, Hewitt, that she met the Canadian politician, Sir John A. Macdonald. They would marry on February 16, 1867. Canada's first "First Lady" was intelligent and curious about life but she had little patience for the social graces and duties of the wife of a Canadian Prime Minister. In 1886, following the completion of the Canadian pacific Railway the Macdonald's set off on a transcontinental rail trip. Consumed by the beauty of the Canadian Rockies, the 50 year old woman raised concerns from the crew when she enjoyed part of the trip wrapped in blankets and perched atop a candle box on the locomotive's cow catcher! The diaries she wrote, now preserved in Canada's National Archives, provide a fascinating view of the early years of Canadian Confederation.