George Reginald Geary

The Honourable George Reginald Geary OBE KC MC
35th Mayor of Toronto
In office 1910–1912
Preceded by	Joseph Oliver
Succeeded by	Horatio Hocken
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Toronto South
In office 1925–1935
Preceded by	Charles Sheard
Succeeded by	Riding abolished
Personal details
Born	(1873-08-12)August 12, 1873 Strathroy, Ontario
Died	April 30, 1954(1954-04-30) (aged 80) Toronto, Ontario
Occupation	Barrister

George Reginald Geary, PC, OBE, MC, KC (August 12, 1873 – April 30, 1954) was Mayor of Toronto, Ontario from 1910 to 1912.

During his term in office he announced plans for a new Harbor board. Geary said, "We have a magnificent harbor but we have failed miserably to avail ourselves of nature's generosity. We have barely sufficient wharfage to accommodate the lake traffic today, to say nothing of the future. We have been to neglectful of our shipping and harbor interests."

Born August 12, 1873 in Strathroy, Ontario, the Geary family moved to Sarnia, Ontario when Geary was age one. He attended and graduated from Toronto's Upper Canada College.

A graduate of the University of Toronto law school in 1896, he soon became interested in politics. In 1904 he became a school trustee in Ward 4. Then an alderman from 1905 to 1907. From there he became counsel for the Ontario Government. Then in 1908 he ran for mayor and lost to Joseph Oliver. Geary was elected Mayor in 1910, re-elected in 1911 and acclaimed in 1912. He resigned in October 1912 in order to accept a position as the City of Toronto's legal counsel.

Geary enlisted in the Canadian Army. on January 7, 1915. He served in World War I and was awarded the Military Cross and the French Legion of Honour. Geary was also awarded the Military Cross and Croix de Guerre during World War I. On March 24, 1919 he was discharged.

In 1925 he was elected as a member of parliament as a Conservative from the riding Toronto South and remained an MP until 1935. In 1935 he briefly served as the Minister of Justice in the Cabinet of R.B. Bennett and accordingly became a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada. He and the Bennett government were defeated in the 1935 federal election. Geary attempted to regain a seat in the 1940 federal election but was defeated by Arthur Roebuck. He was also a member of the Orange Order in Canada.

He died in Toronto on April 30, 1954, aged 80. He was buried in the St. James Cemetery in Toronto, Ontario.

References

• The Municipality History of Toronto, by Jesse Edgar Middletown, 1923, Dominion Publishing Company.
• Toronto Star, January 3, 1910.
• Additional Information can be found in The War Book of Upper Canada College Toronto by A.H. Young.

External links

• List of Canadian Orangemen
• George Reginald Geary – Parliament of Canada biography