Hook, Thomas, M.P.P. for South-East Toronto was born in England, and when a very small boy came to Canada with his parents about the time of Confederation. The family settled in London, Ont., where his father engaged in business as a contractor. The firm of Hook and Toll built the Military School in London as well as other buildings well known in that city and vicinity. On leaving school, the subject of this sketch spent three years in the office of E. Jones Parke, Q.C., and then joined the staff of the Dominion Savings and Investment Society. He resigned his position in this company some twenty years ago, and removed to Toronto, where he became engaged in the real estate business, which he still conducts at 79 Victoria Street. At an early age he took great interest in politics, and on his arrival in Toronto soon became a well known and active worker for the Conservative party in the city. For years he held different offices in the local Conservative organizations, and in 1907 he was elected President of Ward 3 Conservative Association, holding that position for the unprecedented period of seven years, till elected to his present position in 1914 for seat “B” in South-East Toronto by a large majority. During the war he was untiring in his recruiting efforts. He is a fluent and forceful speaker, with marked executive ability, a genial manner, and sociable disposition. Though a straight party man, he is independent and outspoken, and may be expected to leave the impress of his personality on the Legislature in the not distant future. The family—including a son recently returned from service overseas—reside at No. 1 Rathnally Ave.
Donovan, Albert Edward, M.P.P., representative of the riding of Brockville in the Ontario Legislature, is one of the most widely known publicists of that province, and is also known throughout the Dominion as an insurance expert. He was born at Portland, Leeds County, Ont., on February 5, 1859, the son of John and Margaret Donovan. His grandfather was a native of Tipperary, Ireland, who adopted the profession of law, and coming to Canada settled at Forfar, Leeds County, where he became the first legal practitioner in that district. His father was a mechanic and ship’s carpenter. The subject of this sketch was educated at the public and high schools of Athens, Ont., and afterward taught school for a number of years. Subsequently, he entered the life insurance business, and became one of the most successful writers of policies in America. In the early nineties, he represented the Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada in Great Britain for two years, and subsequently returned to this country to associate himself with the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, the oldest Company of its kind in America. He was appointed Superintendent of Agencies for the Maritime Provinces, with headquarters at Halifax, and subsequently moved to Toronto as Superintendent for Ontario. In 1905 he became manager for this province, a position he still holds. He has become largely identified with the financial interests of the province, and is one of the greatest authorities on life insurance as an investment proposition in this or any other country. The sum total of the policies he has written would run into millions, and many of them have reached large sums like $100,000 or $200,000. After moving to Toronto, he still maintained a home at Athens, Ont., where he became largely interested in agriculture, and at one time owned farm property in the Brockville district. It was because of his loyal attachment to the county of his birth that in 1905 the Conservatives of Brockville riding tendered him the nomination for the Legislature in opposition to the sitting member, Hon. George P. Graham, at that time a member of the Ross Government. Though his party was successful at the polls, Mr. Donovan was unable to overcome the personal following of Mr. Graham in the Brockville district. Subsequently, in 1907, when Mr. Graham retired from the Ontario Legislature to join the Laurier cabinet at Ottawa, Mr. Donovan was again nominated and at a by-election in October, 1907, was successful in redeeming the riding by a large majority. His victory was the more signal, inasmuch as Brockville had sent a Liberal member to the Legislature at every election for many years, and was regarded as impregnable by that party. Though on each occasion strongly opposed, Mr. Donovan was again elected by large majorities at the general elections of 1908, 1911 and 1914. From the occasion of his first speech in the Ontario Legislature, he has been recognized as an important factor in the deliberations of that body, his fine oratorical gifts being as marked as the sound intellectual quality of his deliverances. On many occasions regret has been expressed that Mr. Donovan’s business interests have precluded his accepting cabinet preferment. During the late war he turned his abilities as a speaker to patriotic uses, and is credited with having recruited more men for the Canadian army than any other member of either the House of Commons or the various legislatures of this country. His efforts covered the entire province of Ontario, and in the year 1915 he individually secured the enlistment of 1,260 soldiers. Personally, he is popular with men of all shades of opinion, and is a member of the Albany Club, Toronto, the Brockville Club, and the Canadian Club, Toronto, and of the Executive of the Empire Club of Canada. In religion he is a Methodist, and is a member of the A.F. and A.M. and the I.O.O.F. He married Ella B., daughter of Duncan Fisher, and has two sons, Albert Edward and John Alexander, and one daughter, Helen M. Donovan. His residence is at 284 Huron Street, Toronto.
Crannell, Levi, is one of the leading lumbermen of Ottawa, with interests that embrace both Canada and the United States; and has also played a prominent part in public affairs at the Canadian capital. He was born in Albany, N.Y., on October 7, 1842, the son of Henry and Eliza Crannell. His father was a prominent lumberman of the ante-bellum period in New York State, and the subject of this sketch was educated in the public schools of Albany, with a view to taking up the same line of activity. At the time he attained manhood, Ottawa was, as now, a centre of the lumbering industry. Coming to Canada many years ago, Mr. Crannell became associated with the business now known as the Bronson Company, Limited, ground wood pulp and lumber manufacturers, Ottawa, of which he is still an active partner. This company is the offspring of an old lumber firm established at Bytown (the early name of Ottawa) in 1852 by J. J. Harris and Henry Franklin Bronson, both of whom came from the United States to operate newly-acquired timber limits. Mr. Harris retired in 1864, and for over forty years thereafter the business was carried on under the name of the Bronson and Weston Lumber Company, until the present title was adopted. Mr. Crannell threw himself heart and soul into the aspirations of the young Canadian nation, and became a naturalized citizen in 1875. His interests have expanded with the times, and now include California as well as the Ottawa Valley. A good many years ago, foreseeing the growth of the redwood industry on the Pacific Coast, he acquired timber properties there, and twelve years ago the Little River Redwood Company, of Budwinkie, California, commenced manufacturing operations. Of this company Mr. Crannell is President, and other members of the Bronson firm directors and shareholders. By this industry Budwinkie has been turned into a happy and flourishing industrial centre. Direct railroad connections with the mills have been established, and handsome houses built by the company for all employees, married or single. For the latter class, the company operates a community dining room, at which from 350 to 400 meals are served daily. It is evidence of the growing international importance of the redwood industry that over one-third of the company’s manufactured product is exported to other countries, and the demand both foreign and domestic is constantly growing. It is a cedar of exquisite quality, and in its finished condition makes a very handsome article. The American interests of Mr. Crannell have not prevented his playing an important part in public life. He served as alderman from 1889 to 1892, and sat on the following municipal committees: Water Works, Board of Health, Printing, Fire and Light, and Court of Revision. When nominated for mayor of that city in 1896, his requisition paper was signed by over one thousand ratepayers, representing all creeds and classes. His integrity, energy and independence of thought are proverbial among those who know him, and he is generous in his contributions to philanthropic objects. The benefactions of the Bronson firm since its earliest days are well known, and have brought cheer and happiness to hundreds of poor homes at Christmas time and during hard winters. Mr. Crannell has been an especially good friend to the Orphans’ Home, the Old Men’s Home, and, indeed, all hospitals and charitable institutions in Ottawa owe much to his generosity and initiative. He has twice been married: on the first occasion on November 11, 1863, to Julia A. Woolcott, and secondly, on January 26, 1876 to Gertrude E., daughter of the late Henry F. Bronson, of Ottawa. He has three sons, Edward Wilber, Alfred Raymond, and Levi Wilfrid, and two adopted daughters, Edith L. and Jennie G. Crannell. In religion he is a Presbyterian, and in politics a Unionist.
Cudmore, Sedley Anthony, B.A. (Oxon.) is Chief of Educational Statistics in connection with the Dominion Bureau of Statistics at Ottawa. He was born at Millstreet, County Cork, Ireland, the son of Thomas Gardiner Cudmore and his wife, Caroline Ellen Sedley. His maternal grandfather, Lt.-Col. Anthony Gardiner Sedley was Governor of the Military Knights of Windsor, a Royal appointment of high distinction. The subject of this sketch was educated at public schools of Ireland, and later at the public and high schools of Brampton, Ontario, the University of Toronto, where he graduated with the degree of B.A. in 1905, and the University of Oxford, where he took a post-graduate course and obtained the degree of B.A. in 1907. On his return from Oxford, he was appointed Assistant Professor in Political Economy at the University of Toronto, and in 1919 was selected for the above-named office in connection with the Dominion Bureau of Statistics. Mr. Cudmore has been active with his pen in connection with economic subjects. He is the author of “Economics for Canadian Students,” published by the Shaw Correspondence School of Toronto, and has been a contributor to the “University of Toronto Review,” the “Review of Historical Publications,” the “Canadian Magazine,” and other important journals. In 1910, he married Phoebie Amelia Magee, B.A. (Tor.), a daughter of John James Magee, well known as a High School teacher at Port Hope and Uxbridge, and has one son, James Sedley Cudmore, born 1916. He is a member of the University of Toronto Faculty Union, and his favourite recreations are cycling and tennis. In religion he is an Anglican, and in politics a Conservative.
Marshall, Lieut.-Col. Kenric Reid, C.M.G., D.S.O., is the eldest son of Hon. Col. Noel Marshall, capitalist of Toronto, and his wife, H. T. Hogg (deceased), born in Toronto, October 13, 1880. He was educated in private schools and Upper Canada College. At the age of nineteen he began his business career with the Standard Fuel Co., of which his father was president, and continued active connection with that company till the war broke out. He married, October 20, 1909, Marion J., daughter of Angus Kirkland, Esq., banker (deceased). He has one son, Peter K. Marshall. On the outbreak of war Colonel Marshall, who was then a junior Captain in the 48th Highlanders, proceeded overseas with the 15th Battalion, but was unable to accompany his unit to France owing to an attack of pneumonia, contracted on Salisbury Plains, which rendered him unfit for general service for the greater part of 1915, though he was able to perform light duties in France and England for part of that year. In May, 1916, he was passed fit for duty, shortly after being appointed Staff Captain to Brigadier-General Lord Brooke’s Brigade in the newly-formed 4th Canadian Division, and served under this officer until Lord Brooke was wounded in September, 1916, and the 12th Canadian Infantry Brigade came under the command of Brigadier-General J. H. MacBrien, C.B., etc. Colonel Marshall served with General MacBrien through the Battle of the Somme, and for his part in this operation received the Distinguished Service Order. In the early part of 1917 he was promoted to the rank of Major, and given an appointment under the late Major-General Lipsett, who commanded the 3rd Canadian Division. After some nine months’ service with this distinguished commander he was recommended as qualified to fill the appointment of Adjutant and Quartermaster-General of a division, and was subsequently promoted to that post in the 4th Canadian Division under Major-General Sir David Watson, K.C.B., and given the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, being one of the first officers who had not passed through the Staff College at Camberley to become a first-grade Staff Officer in the field. Lt.-Col. Marshall remained throughout the balance of the campaign in the above capacity receiving the C.M.G. for his part in connection with the battles of 1918. He was mentioned in despatches on three occasions. Lt.-Col. Marshall is President of the Standard Fuel Co. of Toronto, founded fifty years ago, at present doing a large retail business throughout Ontario. He is fond of outdoor life, and is a member of several prominent clubs, The Toronto Hunt, National, Rosedale Golf, etc. He is an Anglican and Conservative. His favorite recreations are farming and polo. His city residence is 97 Glen Road, and his country home and farm at Dunbarton. Col. Marshall is an alert business man, with a very pleasing personality.