King, William Lyon Mackenzie ___ 1874-1950 ___ Canadian ___ politician

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
King was born in Berlin (later renamed Kitchener), Ontario, in 1874. His maternal grandfather, William Lyon Mackenzie, led the 1837 Rebellion in Upper Canada. King studied at the University of Toronto, the University of Chicago and at Harvard before entering the civil service. He joined the Liberal Party and won a seat in the 1908 election. The following year, he was appointed Minister of Labour in Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Cabinet. After losing his seat in 1911, King worked as a consultant for a while before, in 1919, being elected leader of his party. Two years later the Liberals won a general election. He won again in 1925 and 1926, and then lost power in 1930. However, he was re-elected in 1935 and led Canada through the Second World War, benefitting from strong relationships with both Roosevelt and Churchill. He died less than two years after retiring. King never married, but had a close female friend, Joan Patteson, with whom he spent much of his leisure time. He was also a committed diarist, and called his diary - which he kept through out his life - a real companion and friend. The diaries are easily available as etexts from the Library and Archives Canada which also has an online exhibition about the diaries.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1893-1950 ___ political religious self family historyeye people

WEB TEXT LINKS
etext
about and some quotes
about and so much more

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Library and Archives Canada

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
The Mackenzie King Diaries
William Lyon Mackenzie King: Dreams and Shadows
 

December 2005, July 2008
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.