Vincent Massey
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| The Right Honourable Charles Vincent Massey CC CH GCStJ CD PC LLD (hc) DCL (hc) MA (Oxon) BA FRSC |
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| In office February 28, 1952 – September 15, 1959 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister | Louis St. Laurent, John Diefenbaker |
| Preceded by | Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis |
| Succeeded by | Georges Vanier |
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| Born | February 20, 1887 Toronto, Ontario |
| Died | December 30, 1967 (aged 80) London, United Kingdom |
| Spouse | Alice Massey |
| Profession | Diplomat |
| Religion | Methodist/United, then Anglican |
Charles Vincent Massey CC CH CD PC [1] (February 20, 1887 – December 30, 1967) was the eighteenth Governor General of Canada and the first who was born in Canada.
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[edit] Background
Vincent Massey was the son of Chester D. Massey who owned the Massey-Harris Co., predecessor to the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. The family was one of Toronto's wealthiest and Vincent grew up among Toronto's elites. When he was young, he attended St. Andrew's College. His family was strongly Methodist and played an important role in supporting local religious, cultural and educational institutions, including Victoria College at the University of Toronto where Massey was sent for his university education, Massey College, also at the University of Toronto where he joined the Kappa Alpha Society through which he met his long-time friend William Lyon Mackenzie King , Massey Hall, a concert hall in Toronto endowed by the Masseys and Metropolitan Methodist Church (now Metropolitan United Church).
Massey then continued his education at Balliol College, Oxford. After his father donated a new residence, Burwash Hall, constructed at Victoria College, he returned there to be appointed its first Dean of Men in 1914. On 4 June 1915, he married Alice Parkin, daughter of Sir George Parkin, a former principal of Upper Canada College and secretary of the Rhodes Trust. Mrs. Massey died in July 1950, just 18 months before her husband's appointment as Governor General. As a result, his daughter-in-law Lilias acted as Chatelaine of Rideau Hall while Massey was in office.
Before beginning his career in diplomacy, Vincent Massey spent four years as president of the business his father had founded. During this time, he pursued philanthropic interests – promoting the arts, education and letters. He also began compiling one of Canada's great art collections and through the Massey Foundation, was the principal influence on the construction of Massey College at the University of Toronto, to which his protegé Robertson Davies was appointed as first Master.
His younger brother was Canadian actor Raymond Massey and he is therefore the uncle of British actors Anna Massey and Daniel Massey.
[edit] Military career
Massey was a member of The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, enlisting in 1907.
[edit] Political career
Massey was appointed Minister without portfolio to the Cabinet of Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King in September 1925. He did not have a seat in the House of Commons and Massey needed to win a seat in the 1925 federal election held on October 29 in order to retain his posting; however, he was defeated and had to leave cabinet.
[edit] Diplomatic career
In 1926, King appointed Massey the first Canadian envoy to the United States of America with the rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Washington. As such, he was Canada's first envoy with full diplomatic credentials to a foreign capital (that is, a capital outside of the British Empire). Massey resigned his posting to Washington in 1930 to accept an appointment from King as High Commissioner to London, however, the Liberal government was defeated in the 1930 election before he could take up his posting and the new Prime Minister, Conservative R.B. Bennett objected to Massey on the grounds that as a former Liberal cabinet minister he did not enjoy the political confidence of the new government that was needed for the position of High Commissioner to the British government. When King returned to power in 1935, Massey was again named High Commissioner to London and was, this time, able to take up his position.
While in London, Massey travelled in the same circles as Lord Astor and his wife Nancy and their largely aristocratic anti-Semitic and pro-German Cliveden set. According to Irving Abella and Harold Troper's book None is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe 1933-1948, Massey was an enthusiastic supporter of the Munich Agreement and worked with Ernest Lapointe to put obstacles in the way of Jewish refugees attempting to immigrate to Canada. However, Canadian immigration policy at the time favoured trained farmers, which excluded most Jews, who were largely city dwellers. [2] Seven decades later, his actions resulted in a campaign in Windsor, Ontario to rename a high school originally named in his honour.
Nevertheless, Massey was a Canadian and British patriot and worked to maximize Canada's war effort once World War II broke out. He made such a favourable impression in England that in 1946, King George VI invested him with the Companion of Honour.
[edit] Return to Canada
In 1949, Massey was appointed chairman of the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences. The ensuing report issued in 1951, known as the Massey Report, led to the creation of the National Library of Canada and the Canada Council.
[edit] Honours
Vincent Massey received another honour from the Queen when, on 11 December 1963, a Royal Warrant was signed assigning an Honourable Augmentation to his arms (he had already been granted armorial bearings in 1926 by the Kings of Arms at the College of Arms in London, England). It consisted of a blue square placed in the upper left bearing the crest from Her Majesty's Arms in right of Canada. Very few augmentations are granted, and even fewer to Canadians.
Massey was the recipient of many honours throughout his life. He was one of the first Canadians to be made a Companion of Honour (CH), would subsequently be invested with the Royal Victorian Chain by Queen Elizabeth II in 1960 after the Canadian Government refused to allow him to be made a Knight of the Garter (see McCreery's The Order of Canada, Its Origins, History and Development). In 1955 Massey became the first Canadian Bailiff Grand Cross of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (GCStJ). Massey was also amongst the first Canadians to be appointed to the Order of Canada, being appointed as a Companion (CC)in July 1967, being subsequently invested by Governor General Roland Michener on November 24, 1967, little more than two months before his death. His other medals included the 1935 King George V Silver Jubilee Medal, 1937 King George VI Coronation Medal, 1953 Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal, 1967 Centennial of Confederation Medal and the Canadian Forces Decoration (CD).
[edit] Legacy
- The Massey building at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario was named in his honour in 1960. This academic building houses offices, classrooms, and the Massey library.
- The Massey building at the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean in Saint-Jean, Quebec was named in his honour.
- The Massey Quadrangle at Upper Canada College in Toronto, Ontario.
[edit] Schools named after Vincent Massey
- Vincent Massey Junior High School in Calgary, Alberta
- Vincent Massey School in Medicine Hat, Alberta
- Vincent Massey School in Saskatoon Saskatchewan
- Vincent Massey Community School in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan (Elementary)
- Vincent Massey Collegiate in Winnipeg, Manitoba
- Vincent Massey High School in Brandon, Manitoba.
- Vincent Massey School in Ottawa, Ontario
- Vincent Massey Secondary School in Windsor, Ontario.
- Vincent Massey Public School (formerly Daisy Avenue Public School) Etobicoke, Ontario, now closed
- Vincent Massey Collegiate Institute in Etobicoke, Ontario, now closed
- Vincent Massey Public School in Bowmanville Ontario
- Vincent Massey Public School in Cornwall Ontario (closed)
- Vincent Massey Collegiate in Montreal,Quebec (Secondary)
- Vincent Massey Elementary School in St. Andrews, New Brunswick
- Ecole Massey School in Regina, Saskatchewan
- Vincent Massey Public School in North Bay, Ontario
[edit] References
Adapted from http://www.gg.ca
[edit] Notes
- ^ Massey's post-nominal letters are listed as PC, CH, CC on his Order of Canada citation [1]. It should be noted that he was entitled to far more letters than are listed. In particular his 1948 autobiography On Being Canadian lists him as C.H., DCL, LL.D (hon.), FRSC. The department of Veterans Affairs page about the Canadian Forces Decoration mentions that Massey was the first GG to be awarded the medal upon taking office in Rideau Hall which entitled him to utilize the postnominal letters CD. The same page lists him as The Right Honourable Vincent Massey CC CH GCJ CD, although this listing in inconsistent with the accepted Canadian/Commonwealth Order of precedence [2]
- ^ Shadow of Heaven: The Life of Lester Pearson, volume 1, 1897-1948, by John English, Lester and Orpen Denys, 1989.
[edit] External links
[edit] Schools
- Vincent Massey School in Medicine Hat
- Vincent Massey Community School in Prince Albert, SK
- Vincent Massey Community School in Saskatoon, SK
- Kinsmen/Vincent Massey School for the Developmentally Delayed in Cornwall, Ontario
- Vincent Massey Public School in Bowmanville, Ontario
- Vincent Massey Public School in Bowmanville
- Vincent Massey Ecole in St Hubert, PQ
- Vincent Massey Collegiate in Montreal, PQ
- Vincent Massey Elementary School in St Andrews, NB
- Ecole Massey School in Regina, SK
- Vincent Massey High School in Brandon, MB
- Vincent Massey Collegiate in Winnipeg, MB
| Diplomatic posts | ||
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| New title establishment of diplomatic relations
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Canadian Minister to the United States of America 1927–1930 |
Succeeded by William Duncan Herridge |
| Preceded by Howard Ferguson |
Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom 1935–1946 |
Succeeded by Norman Robertson |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by Chief Justice, The Right Honourable Thibaudeau Rinfret as administrator / acting Governor-General |
Governor General of Canada 1952–1959 |
Succeeded by Georges Vanier |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by Henry John Cody |
Chancellor of the University of Toronto 1947–1953 |
Succeeded by Samuel Beatty |
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| Persondata | |
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| NAME | Massey, Vincent |
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| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Governor General of Canada |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 20, 1887 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Toronto, Ontario |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 30, 1967 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | England |
