William Lyon Mackenzie King
December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950
Canada's longest-serving prime minister — 21 years in office across three terms — who steered the country through the Second World War and laid the foundations of its welfare state.
The Story
William Lyon Mackenzie King was born in Berlin (now Kitchener), Ontario, on December 17, 1874 — the grandson of William Lyon Mackenzie, the rebel of 1837, who lies across town in the Toronto Necropolis. Trained in law and political economy, with a Harvard PhD, King became Canada's first minister of labour and, in 1919, leader of the Liberal Party.
He was prime minister from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948 — 21 years and 154 days in all, still the Canadian record. He weathered the King–Byng constitutional crisis, led Canada through the Second World War (promising 'not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary'), and introduced unemployment insurance and the family allowance. Privately he was one of history's great diarists — and, after his mother's death, a believer who sought her spirit at séances at his Kingsmere estate. He died there on July 22, 1950.
He was prime minister from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948 — 21 years and 154 days in all, still the Canadian record. He weathered the King–Byng constitutional crisis, led Canada through the Second World War (promising 'not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary'), and introduced unemployment insurance and the family allowance. Privately he was one of history's great diarists — and, after his mother's death, a believer who sought her spirit at séances at his Kingsmere estate. He died there on July 22, 1950.
- Buried
- Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto