Margeson, Joseph Willis, Lieut.-Col. (Bridgewater, Nova Scotia) son of Otis A. Margeson (English) and Jennie Cahill (Irish). Was born on April 2nd, 1880, at Harborville, King’s County, Nova Scotia. Educated at Berwick High School; the Provincial Normal School, Truro; Acadia University, Wolfville; and Dalhousie Law School, Halifax, from which latter institution he graduated in 1908 with the degree of LL.B. Was principal of Berwick High School 1903-4. Also taught at South Berwick, Waterville and Lakeville. Married Sept. 16, 1908, to Mary Gertrude, daughter of Duncan McIntosh of Truro, Nova Scotia, and has two daughters, Doris Gwendolyn and Olive Gertrude, born Sept. 26th, 1910, and Nov. 10th, 1911, respectively. He is a barrister-at-law, and High Counsellor of the Independent Order of Foresters. He is also a member of the Masonic Order, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Ancient Order of Foresters. In religion he is a Baptist. He contested the riding of Lunenburg in November, 1909, against the Hon. A. K. MacLean, Attorney-General, at a by-election for the Provincial Legislature, but was defeated. First elected to the Provincial Legislature at the general election June 14th, 1911, and re-elected in 1916 with a largely increased majority. He resigned his seat in November, 1917, to contest his constituency as a Unionist candidate for the Federal House, but was defeated after one of the most bitter contests in the Province of Nova Scotia. Col. Margeson polled the largest vote he ever received. His opponent was a strong anti-conscriptionist. He has been prominently identified with the Canadian Militia, being Lieutenant of the 75th Regiment, 1910, Captain in the 25th Nova Scotia Overseas Battalion, December 1914, with which unit he went to France. Promoted to the rank of Major, June, 1916, and appointed Inspector of Pay Accounts and Records, C.E.F. In April, 1917, Lieut.-Col. Margeson was appointed President of “The Pay and Allowance Board,” with headquarters at Ottawa. In December, 1918, he was promoted Lieut.-Col., and in January, 1919, his name was brought to the notice of the Secretary of State for War for valuable services rendered in connection with the war. He is a Director of The News Company, publishers of “The Daily News” and “The Weekly News,” Lunenberg, Nova Scotia. He is also Vice-President of the G.W.V.A., Ottawa.
Thornton, Hon. Robert Stirton, M.P., M.B., C.M., LL.D., Minister of Education for the Province of Manitoba, is one of the educational leaders of Western Canada, though not a native of this country. He was born at Edinburgh, Scotland, on May 8, 1863, the son of David and Mary (Gavin) Thornton. His parents decided that he should adopt the career of a physician, and after a good general education in his native city at Heriot’s Hospital school, he entered Edinburgh University, and graduated in 1884 with the degree of M.B., C.M. In the same year he came to Canada, and commenced the practice of his profession at Deloraine, Manitoba. He became well-known throughout the province, and, in 1896, was elected President of the Manitoba Medical Council; and, later, President of the Medical Council of Canada. Among other matters in which he interested himself was that of horticulture, a neglected pursuit in the western country, and became recognized as a pioneer horticulturist of the prairies, and an inspiration to others to adopt such a hobby. He became identified with the Liberal party, and, in 1907, was elected to the Manitoba Legislature for Deloraine. Though defeated in 1910, he was again elected in 1914, and also in the general elections of 1915, which resulted in the overthrow of the Roblin administration. He had taken a very strong stand against the indifference of the authorities to school problems; and when Hon. Mr. Norris was called upon to form a government, he entrusted to Dr. Thornton the portfolio of Education, which, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, was perhaps the most important within the Premier’s gift. In no section of the world is the problem of education more difficult, owing to the great number of nationalities represented in the numbers of unlettered immigrants that poured into Manitoba in the years preceding the great war. With the problem of making the children of these newcomers good Canadians, conversant with the language and institutions of the land of their adoption, Dr. Thornton grappled, in 1915, and three and a half years later it was the testimony of the Winnipeg “Tribune,” that the change of government had been worth while, if only for what had been accomplished in making the schools of Manitoba Canadian. Before he became Minister of Education, large numbers of the public schools were nondescript, and breeding centres of foreign speech and ideals. In a determined and unflinching way, Dr. Thornton put into action, through the machinery of the schools, the ideals of true Canadianism, and for the first time enforced the law with regard to an English education for every child of school age in Manitoba. As a result of his policies, other western provinces have followed his example, and many educationists of the western United States look to Manitoba’s system of dealing with the foreign problem in education as a model. Latterly, Dr. Thornton has taken a strong stand against immigration of the old indiscriminate sort, and proclaims the doctrine that anyone who comes to Canada must be prepared to shoulder all the responsibilities, with the privileges, duties, and rights of Canadian citizenship. By the many advocates of these new views he is looked up to as a leader. In recognition of his services, Queen’s University (Kingston) some time ago conferred on him the honorary degree of LL.D. Dr. Thornton is a Presbyterian in religion, and a member of the Masonic Order. On April 30, 1889, he married Mary, daughter of Robert Johnston, Princeton, Ont., and has no children. He resides at Winnipeg and at Deloraine, Manitoba.
Bailey, Charles Frederick, Agricultural Commissioner for the Province of Ontario, is, singularly enough, a native of the Maritime Provinces. He was born at Kentville, Nova Scotia, in 1880, and his mother, who still survives, is now Mrs. P. Innes of that town. He was educated in King’s County High School, Kentville, and had a practical insight into agriculture as a lad on a Nova Scotia farm. In 1902 he resolved to qualify himself on the scientific side of agriculture and entered himself at the Ontario Agricultural College at Guelph, Ont., which holds a standard position throughout North America. From 1904 to 1907 he was engaged largely in commercial work related to this basic interest of the country’s prosperity and returned to the O.A.C. in the latter year. In 1909 he received from its affiliated Institution the University of Toronto, the degree of Bachelor of Scientific Agriculture. At that time the Ontario Department of Agriculture was looking about for expert young men to carry on the work of agricultural instruction and development and on receiving the above degree Mr. Bailey was in June, 1909, appointed Live Stock Specialist for Ontario. He brought a great deal of enthusiasm and knowledge to bear on his task and in 1912 was promoted to the post of Assistant Deputy Minister of Agriculture by the late Hon. James Duff. A few years later the office of Commissioner of Agriculture was created in order to place a permanent official of expert knowledge in charge of policies for the betterment of agriculture in this province. Mr. Bailey’s grasp of all the problems of his subject is exceptional and he holds a high reputation as an expert in other states and provinces. As a young man he was a Captain in the King’s County (N.S.) Regiment, but has always eschewed politics. In religion he is a member of the Church of England, and some years ago married Louise D., daughter of David Hogg, Perth, Ont. He has had three children, of whom one, a boy born in 1915, survives. His address is 164 Walmer Road, Toronto.
Dalley, Frederick Fenner, President of the F. F. Dalley Corporations, Limited, Hamilton, Ont., and subsidiaries, was born in Hamilton, April 11, 1883, the son of Fenner Frederick Dalley (former President of the F. F. Dalley Co., Limited), who died in 1913, and his wife, Mabel (Forster) Dalley. He received his education at the Hamilton public schools and Collegiate Institute. He married Ethel Hazel Gibson, daughter of the late Samuel Gibson, of Caledonia, February 21, 1914, and has two sons, Fenner Frederick Dalley, born June 1, 1915, and Samuel Gibson Dalley, born September 17, 1916. Mr. Dalley is President of the F. F. Dalley Corporations, Limited, Hamilton (the parent organization); President Dalley Products, Limited, Hamilton; President of F. F. Dalley Co. of Canada, Limited, Hamilton; President of F. F. Dalley Co. of New York, Inc., Buffalo, N.Y.; President S. M. Bixby & Co., Inc., New York (plants Brooklyn, N.Y. and Indianapolis, Ind.); Director and Treasurer The Thermokept Products Corporation, New York; Chairman and Treasurer Perfect Vacuum Canning Co., New York; and Chairman and Treasurer Thermokept, Limited, Hamilton, Ont. As parent Company, the F. F. Dalley Corporations, Limited, control in the Dalley Co., founded in 1846, manufacturers of the well known “2 in 1” shoe polishes and other specialities, and the Bixby Company of New York, founded in 1864, the two largest individual manufacturers of shoe polish in America, in addition to which they control many other specialities and staple lines. The Corporation conducts five factories and eighteen branch offices, extending from coast to coast in Canada and the United States. The Corporation’s spacious offices are centrally situated at No. 50 James Street South. Mr. Dalley’s clubs are: Hamilton, Thistle, Tamahaac, Royal Hamilton Yacht, Caledon Mountain Trout, Hamilton Golf and Country, Seaview Golf, Absecon, N.J., Buffalo, Buffalo, N.Y., Canadian, New York City. He is a member of the Hamilton Board of Trade and of the Canadian Manufacturers Association; of St. George’s Society, and the A.F. and A.M.; and is an Anglican. Mr. Dalley has a pleasing personality and great efficiency, necessary in the direction of a business with such extensive ramifications as that of which he is the head. He held a commission as Lieutenant in the Thirteenth Royal Regiment in 1906. Golf is his chief recreation. His residence is at “Wynnstay,” Ancaster, Ont., on the mountain a short distance out of Hamilton.
Stapells, Richard A., is one of the best known figures in the business and social life of Toronto, where he was born on February 12, 1879, the son of Richard George and Susan (Carruthers) Stapells. He was educated in the Toronto Public Schools and commenced his business career with the firm of Caldecott, Burton & Spence, from which so many successful Canadian business men have graduated. About 1900 he left the employ of that firm to pay a visit to England and engaged in the commission business in London for some two years. On his return to Toronto in 1902 he purchased and incorporated the business now known as the McElroy Manufacturing Company, Limited, makers of “Royal Garments,” with offices at 47 Simcoe Street, Toronto, of which he is President and Managing Director. Despite the fact that he is a most successful business man who had won success at an age when many men are but on the lower rungs of the ladder, Mr. Stapells’ general interests are remarkably wide and his artistic tastes exceptional. His chief hobby is music, for which he has a great natural talent. As a boy he was an accomplished violinist and a member of the Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the late Dr. F. H. Torrington. At the age of fifteen he was a member of the violin section of the great orchestra formed for the Festival in connection with the opening of Massey Hall in 1894. Later he obtained vocal instruction with the best masters in London, England, and New York, and for several years has been baritone soloist of the Church of the Messiah (Anglican), of which he is a member, and a lay delegate to the Anglican Synod, representing Church of Messiah. He was for some years also a very enthusiastic member of the executive of the National Chorus, a celebrated Toronto choral organization. In social and patriotic work he is equally active. He has long been a prominent member of the Empire Club of Canada, Toronto; was one of its vice-presidents in 1913-14 and President 1918-19. In the latter capacity he has induced many eminent men to come to Toronto and address the public on questions of the day, and made the Club one of the most vital organs of opinion in the Dominion. He is a life member of York Pioneer and Historical Society; life member of St. George’s Society; life member of the Canadian Red Cross Society, member of the Executive Committee, Canadian Defence League; member of the Executive, Overseas Club, and member of the Navy League of Canada, in connection with all of which he was active in promoting patriotic movements during the war and the succeeding repatriation period. Is a Trustee of Queen’s University. He is also a member of the Toronto Board of Trade, member of the Canadian Manufacturers Association (an Executive officer thereof in 1914), member of the Royal Colonial Institute and the Canadian Institute; a past president of the Dufferin School Old Boys’ Association; and belongs to the following clubs: Strollers’, National, Royal Canadian Yacht, and charter member of the Eastbourne Golf Club. With all his manifold activities Mr. Stapells is one of the most affable and well-poised men in the city of Toronto. In politics he is a Conservative-Unionist. In July, 1902, he married Pauline Edwina, daughter of William C. Harvey, and has two sons and four daughters. He resides at 99 Roxborough St. East, Toronto, and has a summer home, “Deancroft,” at Jackson’s Point, Lake Simcoe, Ont.