Mikel, William Charles, K.C., B.C.L. (Belleville), was born in Belleville, Ont., the son of W. V. and Matilda (Wilson) Mikel, a descendant U.E.L. family. His great-grandfather fought on the side of Great Britain in the American Revolution, after which he came to Canada and was granted 300 acres of land in Ameliasburg Township, Prince Edward County. Again he fought on the side of the Government forces in Rebellion of 1837. The subject of this sketch was educated at Belleville High School and the Ontario Business College, Albert College (honors), and Trinity University (B.C.L., 1897). Practises law at Belleville; has been Crown Prosecutor at Ottawa, Toronto and other places throughout the province. Appeared before Legislature and Parliament in several important matters, and acted as one of the Counsel for the depositors of the Farmers Bank of Canada, when the Government and House of Commons approved of payment of over one million dollars to depositors. Served as Alderman, Auditor and City Solicitor of the Corporation of the city of Belleville; created King’s Counsel, 1908. One of the founders of the Ontario Bar Association and President 1911-12; President Liberal-Conservative Auxiliary, Belleville; President Ontario Municipal Association, 1907-08. Grand Master A.O.U.W., 1914-15-16; President Canadian Fraternal Association, 1918-19; P.M. Moira Lodge, No. 11, A.F. & A.M., 1st P. Moira Chapter, No. 7, G.R.C.; member King Baldwin Preceptory; member L.O.L. No. 274, and Royal Black Knights of Ireland. Member of Albany Club, Toronto; a Presbyterian in religion. Formerly Captain 15th Batt. A.L.I., volunteered, 1915, for service in the Great War, but was rejected. Offered to organize and take command of a battalion, not accepted. Secretary Speakers’ Patriotic League at Belleville; assisted in recruiting several military organizations for service overseas; member of Council of the Win-the-War League, and was one of the Committee of the League which presented to Sir Robert Borden, August, 1917, the resolutions of the League supporting Union Government, conscription and other patriotic measures. Strong supporter of the Union Government, and assisted many of the Union Government candidates in the election of December, 1917. Married Miss Lillian Ewen, daughter of T. E. Ewen, M.A., veteran of the Fenian Raid; has one daughter, Miss Audrey Mikel. On July 25 and 26, 1918, he presided over a meeting at Belleville called by him, as President of the Canadian Fraternal Association, comprised of delegates from a number of Canadian Fraternal Societies representing Protestants and Roman Catholics, both English and French speaking, for the purpose of promoting a better understanding between the English and French speaking Canadians; and again at Ottawa on November 28, 1918, he presided over a similar meeting called by him. His brother, R. Y. Mikel, served in France with the American Flying Corps in the Great War, so that the great-grandsons of the men who fought against the American army in the Revolutionary war, served in that army, showing how closely the people of the British Empire and of the United States have been brought together by this war.
Robb, Thomas (Westmount, Que.), Manager and Secretary of the Shipping Federation of Canada, is Managing Director of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co., and a Director of George Davie & Sons, Limited. He has been employed as Acting Staff Embarkation Officer, with the rank of Major, under Generals McDonald and Biggar, and has also rendered valuable services to the Marine and Naval Departments in connection with the war. Royal Commissioner on Pilotage, 1911; Chairman of Royal Commission on Pilotage, 1918, arising out of Halifax disaster. Commissioner on Traffic Regulations dealing with explosives, and also Royal Commissioner on Commission appointed to investigate labor unrest in Shipbuilding industry in Province of Quebec. He was a member of the delegation sent to Washington, D.C., in opposition to the proposed Long Sault Development, and has been called to that city on several occasions, notably in connection with the revision of the American Seamen’s Act. He is a member of the American Geographical Society, and has delivered an address on “Navigation—Ancient and Modern” before the Nomad’s Club, which was subsequently published in pamphlet form, also other addresses on Marine subjects. Mr. Robb’s chosen recreations are golf and fishing. He is a Justice of the Peace, a Mason, and a member of the Canadian Club and Canada Club, both of Montreal. Mr. Robb was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1863, where he received his education at McLaren Academy. Thomas Robb is the son of Ann Thomson and Thomas Robb, an able writer. He married Elizabeth Andrew, daughter of James McLaren, merchant, of Stirling, Scotland, in 1890, by whom he has three daughters and one son, Elizabeth, Mabel, Chrissie, Robert.
White, Arthur V., Consulting Engineer, Toronto, Ontario, was born in Woodstock, Ontario, August 21, 1871. His father was the late James White, Esq., a prominent merchant, well known throughout South-western Ontario, and for more than twenty-five years Clerk of the County of Oxford, in which office he succeeded his father, who was one of the early Scotch pioneers of Woodstock. His mother was Dorothy Jessie McLeod, eldest daughter of W. C. McLeod, Esq., one of the most widely-known merchants and financiers of pioneer days in Ontario. Mr. White’s early education was carried on in the Woodstock Public and High Schools, after which he entered the University of Toronto, where he graduated from the School of Practical Science with high standing in 1892. He later obtained from the University of Toronto the degree of M.E. (mechanical engineer), being the first graduate of that institution to receive this degree. After graduating, Mr. White followed his profession in connection with manufacturing establishments in Canada and the United States, and for some years was Chief Draughtsman for the Canadian General Electric Company, at Peterboro. Subsequently, he was Lecturer in Mechanical Drawing and Machine Design at the Toronto Technical School. He spent about five years in London, England, as engineering expert to Messrs. Brown Brothers, for whom he executed important commissions on the Continent, as well as in the United States, travelling extensively in connection therewith. August 28, 1901, Mr. White married Aidine Squire, eldest daughter of Hon. Watson C. Squire, LL.D., of Seattle, Wash., ex-United States Senator from that State, and formerly Governor of Washington Territory, and Ida Remington, eldest daughter of Philo Remington, Esq., the noted manufacturer of firearms. Mr. White has three children—James Arthur, Remington, and Caroline Lathrop. Returning to take up his residence in Canada in 1902, Mr. White continued his professional work. In 1905, representing the noted engineers, Messrs. Ross & Holgate, Mr. White personally canvassed leading manufacturers in South-western Ontario respecting power requirements and collected much of the field data basic to the recommendations of the Ontario Power Commission, the precursor of the present Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario. Later he worked chiefly upon constructional engineering and devoted considerable time to designing in connection with Harbor Works for the Department of Public Works, Canada. In 1910, he was engaged by the Commission of Conservation, Ottawa, with which he still remains as Consulting Engineer. He has reported for this Commission upon the Water Powers of the Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and British Columbia; also upon the St. Lawrence Long Sault Rapids, the Chicago Drainage Canal, Niagara Power and other matters. In 1911, he was appointed Consulting Engineer representing Canada to the International Joint Commission, under the Boundary Waters Treaty, to report jointly with the consulting engineer from the United States upon the official reference relating to the levels of the Lake of the Woods, including the control and utilization of its waters and those tributary thereto. The Report upon this subject was completed in 1917 and is a comprehensive work to which the engineering press has referred as reflecting great credit on its authors. Mr. White has written extensively upon engineering subjects, but his principal efforts have been devoted to his various reports for the Federal Government. He is regarded as a high authority on many questions connected with International waters, and has made a special study of Niagara power and the exportation of electric energy with its relationship to coal supply. To the important subject of Canada’s fuel problem, Mr. White has, for many years, devoted special attention. Since as early as 1910, he has contributed valuable articles to such periodicals as the “University Magazine,” the “Monetary Times,” and prominent engineering and technical journals, as well as to the daily press, urging that this subject be viewed and dealt with in its broad national aspect, and that Canada take immediate steps to secure the greatest possible independence with respect to her fuel supply. Mr. White possesses a very comprehensive collection of rare books dealing with the early History of Astronomy. He is opposed to the views of modern theoretical astronomy as represented by the Copernican System, and an article from his pen in the University Monthly, in 1909, entitled “The Shape of the Earth,” has excited considerable comment. In religion Mr. White is a Protestant. He is non-sectarian, but of strong Christian belief and is a staunch supporter of the Scriptures. In politics, as in religion, he is independent.
Beaumont, Ernest Joseph (Kitchener, Ont.), Local Registrar of the Supreme Court, is the son of Joseph Wilson Beaumont, D.D., and Louisa Beaumont. He was born at Mirfield, Yorkshire, England, February 28, 1855, and received his early education at “The Grammar School,” Sheffield, Eng. Coming to Canada as a young man, Mr. Beaumont practised law in Galt, Ont., for twenty-seven years, and served as Town Solicitor of that place for eighteen years. He was also a member of the Public School Board for 4 years, and late Major of the 29th Waterloo Battalion, retiring with rank in 1888. He received his present appointment as local Registrar of the Supreme Court of Ontario in January, 1908, is a Roman Catholic in religion and a member of the Canadian Order of Foresters. Ernest J. Beaumont married Helen McNab, daughter of Benjamin Wood of Ingersoll, Ont., and had one son, George Joseph Beaumont, Lieutenant in the 11th (S.) Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, B.E.F., France, who died of wounds in France on January 24, 1917.
Mackintosh, Charles Herbert (Ottawa, Ont.), was born in London, Ontario, in 1843; a son of the late Captain William Mackintosh, county engineer of Middlesex, Ontario, and Leonora Sophia, daughter of Colonel Dickenson of Jamaica, West Indies. Captain Mackintosh came to Canada as an attaché of the ordnance branch of the British Army. Mr. Mackintosh has led an unusually active life, succeeding in making his way, unaided, to positions of honor and influence. He was educated at the Galt Grammar School (Tassie’s), and Caradoc Academy (Middlesex Co.), two well-known institutions at that time. When the Prince of Wales (afterwards King Edward VII) visited Canada in 1860, an ode of welcome from the pen of Mr. Mackintosh, then a youth of seventeen, was presented to His Royal Highness. Two years later, under the title of “Fat Contributor,” he wrote for the London “Free Press,” a series of articles, characteristically entitled “Hurry-Graphs.” These attracted wide attention, and the entrance of the young writer into journalism was a foregone conclusion. He relinquished the study of law, and became, first, reporter, and soon afterwards city editor of the “Free Press.” Believing that the early history of pioneer life in Upper Canada should be heard from the lips of those who had passed through the ordeal, Mr. Mackintosh organized a Committee, the result being a Pioneer Banquet, at which 400 old settlers from local and distant points were in attendance. Col. J. B. Askin, one of the early pioneers acted as chairman, Mr. Mackintosh, as the youngest Canadian, acting as Secretary. Subsequent to this, he assisted in promoting the Western Fair, which to-day has expanded to noticeable proportions. His journalistic career was marked by rapid progress. In 1864 he was city editor of the Hamilton “Times.” A year later he founded the “Dispatch,” of Strathroy, which he conducted until 1873. In 1868 he married Gertrude Cooke, daughter of T. Cooke, J.P., of Strathroy. In 1871 he founded the Parkhill “Gazette,” which he controlled for some time, while still managing the “Dispatch.” In the same year, he unsuccessfully contested North Middlesex as Conservative candidate for the local legislature. In 1871 he visited Chicago during the fire, and wrote a description of the terrible event; 60,000 copies being sold in two weeks. He was also elected a member of the town council of Strathroy, in which capacity he exhibited talents, which afterwards showed to better advantage in a wider sphere. Believing in himself, as all men do who come to the front in human affairs, he proceeded to prepare for a higher sphere in public life which he was destined to fill. Deciding that the protection system which had long been established in the United States, deserved consideration in Canada, he accepted the position of managing editor of the Chicago “Journal of Commerce.” While resident in the western metropolis, he studied carefully the protection system, as well as other issues in the United States. He also wrote a graphic account of the United States’ “panic of 1873.” Returning to Canada, at the request of Sir John A. Macdonald the day after his government was defeated in 1873, he declined an editorial position on the “Mail”; sold out his interest in the Strathroy “Dispatch,” and went to Ottawa, being appointed editor of the Ottawa “Citizen,” the Conservative journal of the capital. He at once attracted attention, not only because of the vigorous management and writing of the “Citizen,” but because of knowledge of public questions. At the celebration of the O’Connell Centennial, he wrote a poem which won the gold and silver medal over many others submitted. He was an ardent protectionist long before the Conservative party accepted that system as a plank in their platform, and must be counted as one of the leaders in that economic movement. In 1877, the late John Riordon, of St. Catharines, urged Mr. Mackintosh to co-operate with him in reorganizing the “Mail,” but the offer was again declined. His active interest in public affairs, combined with an unusual share of those qualities which make men popular with their fellows, caused him to be nominated for the Mayoralty of Ottawa in 1879, the result of the election being his return by a large majority. He promoted the first Dominion Exhibition, which was opened by the then Governor-General, Lord Lorne—afterwards Duke of Argyle. In the two succeeding years he was re-elected, and though unseated on a technicality after the third contest, was a fourth time favored with the support of the people. As Mayor of the Capital of Canada, he inaugurated many reforms, which proved of great benefit to the city. When retiring from the Mayoralty, the city presented him with an address; also, citizens generally passed resolutions and presented an illuminated address. In the General Election of 1882 he was one of the Conservative candidates in Ottawa for the House of Commons, and was elected senior member by a sweeping majority. During his term in Parliament, he made several speeches which were notable for keen common sense. He spoke but seldom; when he did he always secured an attentive hearing. He became President of the Ottawa and Gatineau Valley Railroad, now a part of the Canadian Pacific, and was also a Director of the Canada Atlantic Railroad, now a part of the Grand Trunk System. Mr. Mackintosh resigned his seat for Ottawa in July, 1886, but at the request of friends agreed to hold it until the dissolution, which he did. The Capital of Canada is no bed of roses for any active or generous man, and thus the senior member found it, hence his positive objection to being again a candidate at that time. In the General Election of 1887, Mr. Mackintosh, by the unanimous wish of the Conservative party, contested Russell against Mr. W. C. Edwards, the largest lumber manufacturer, and most popular Liberal in the County, and was defeated by a narrow majority, owing mainly to the feeling against the Government among the French-Canadians, aroused by the execution of Riel. He polled 2,146 votes, or between 400 and 500 more than were ever given to a Conservative candidate in that county. The Home Rule and Riel cries concentrated at least 1,600 votes solidly against any Conservative nominee, the Constituency being largely Catholic. It should be said, however, that Mr. Mackintosh was an ardent advocate of and believer in Ireland’s right to control her own local affairs. But he had voted in favor of Orange incorporation, publicly declaring that such would, in the end, ameliorate the bitterness between Protestants and Catholics. Mr. Edwards upon a protest was unseated for Russell, and a score of his supporters reported for corruption. The Conservative party let the matter drop; another election took place with the same result, Mr. Edwards (now Senator) being returned. In 1888 Mr. Mackintosh declined to accept nomination for the Mayoralty, and also to be a candidate for the County of Carleton. In 1890, upon the death of the sitting member, Mr. Perley, a requisition was presented, signed by prominent Liberals and Conservatives, asking Mr. Mackintosh to be a candidate. There were four candidates in the field, but he was elected by over 1,000 majority, and was again returned at the General Election of 1891. During this time he became interested in the “Lake Manitoba Railway and Canal Company,” which subsequently was merged with the Canadian Northern Transcontinental Line. His leader, Sir John A. Macdonald, died in June, 1891, and until Sir John Thompson became Premier, Mr. Mackintosh took little interest in political affairs, disposing of his newspaper the Ottawa “Citizen.” In October, 1893, he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Canadian North-West Territories, then including the Yukon. Before leaving Ottawa he was presented with a testimonial and address by the workingmen of Ottawa, the Conservative Association, and a dinner tendered by the members of the Rideau Club, at which Judges of the Supreme Court, Sir John Thompson and other Ministers were present. During his term, he organized a Dominion Territorial Exhibition in 1895, spoken of as inaugurating a very beneficial settlement in the North-West. Prize competition entries reached nearly 8,000 in the various departments. It was opened by Lord Aberdeen, then Governor-General. On this occasion the city of Regina presented him with an oil painting of himself and a complimentary address. In January, 1898, Mr. Mackintosh resigned his high position, going to British Columbia, successfully organizing the British America Mining Corporation, of which he was Managing Director, until he resigned, about 1900. In 1902, when King George V (then Duke of York) visited Canada, Mr. Mackintosh, upon behalf of the Miners of British Columbia, presented him with unique gold specimens extracted from the western mines. Mr. Mackintosh remained in the western province for several years, engaging in literary work. In 1908 he was awarded the 1st prize for an essay on “British Columbia—Its Resources.” He was for some time in Toronto, where (in 1910) he wrote a series of articles for the “Mail and Empire,” forecasting Germany as the storm centre of a coming war. In 1911, when the Reciprocity issue was before the electors, he wrote a series of articles against the proposition, visiting nearly every constituency in Ontario, publishing a signed telegram in the “Montreal Star,” the day before the election, forecasting the defeat of the Laurier Government and allowing them not more than fourteen seats in Ontario. When his party returned to power, he accepted a position as Inspector of Customs, and has also written many articles on the European War, which broke out in August, 1914. In May, 1917, a pamphlet written by Mr. Mackintosh, dealing with the Home Rule issue and entitled “Are Ireland’s Problems on the Eve of Solution?” attracted much attention, being quoted from at the Irish Conference by several delegates. Mr. Mackintosh spends much of his time in British Columbia where he is Chairman of the Halcyon Springs Company, and is greatly interested in the development of that province’s mining resources.