George Eulas Foster
Sir George Eulas Foster | |
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Senator for Toronto, Ontario | |
In office September 22, 1921 – December 30, 1931 |
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Appointed by | Arthur Meighen |
Member of the Canadian Parliament for York |
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In office 1896–1900 |
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Preceded by | Thomas Temple |
Succeeded by | Alexander Gibson |
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Toronto North |
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In office 1904–1921 |
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Preceded by | District was created in 1903 |
Succeeded by | Thomas Langton Church |
Member of the Canadian Parliament for King's |
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In office 1882–1896 |
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Preceded by | James Domville |
Succeeded by | James Domville |
Personal details | |
Born | Carleton County, New Brunswick |
September 3, 1847
Died | December 30, 1931 | (aged 84)
Resting place | Beechwood Cemetery |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse(s) | ?; Adeline Davis Chisholm (2 July 1889) |
Alma mater | University of New Brunswick |
Sir George Eulas Foster, (Canadian) PC, (Imperial) PC, GCMG (September 3, 1847 – December 30, 1931) was a Canadian politician and academic. He coined the phrase "splendid isolation" to praise the British foreign policy in the late 19th century.
Foster was an MP and a senator in the Canadian Parliament for a total of 45 years, 5 months and 24 days. He enjoys the unique distinction of having served in the cabinets of seven Canadian Prime Ministers: Macdonald, Abbott, Thompson, Bowell, Tupper, Borden and Meighen.
Aside from his coldly severe and lugubrious personality, two factors thwarted whatever ambitions he may have had to become Prime Minister himself: the curious circumstances of his first marriage in the United States to his previously married housekeeper,[1] and his later involvement in a trust company scandal.[2]
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Background[edit]
Born in Carleton County, New Brunswick, Foster received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New Brunswick in 1868. He taught in various high schools and seminaries until 1870 when he was appointed Professor of Classics and Ancient Literature in the University of New Brunswick. He shortly afterwards studied in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Heidelberg, Germany, resuming his professorship in 1873. He resigned in 1879.
Politics[edit]
Foster entered politics with his election to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1882 federal election as a Conservative Member of Parliament (M.P.) representing New Brunswick. He joined the Cabinet of Sir John A. Macdonald as Minister of Marine and Fisheries in 1885, and was promoted to Minister of Finance in 1888. Foster retained this position after Macdonald's death and through the successive governments of Prime Ministers Abbott, Thompson, Bowell and Tupper. He led a group of seven cabinet ministers who resigned temporarily in January 1896 to force the retirement of Bowell, who denounced them as a 'nest of traitors'. Foster's debates with Sir Richard Cartwright, the former Liberal Minister of Finance under Prime Minister Mackenzie, are the stuff of Canadian Parliamentary legend.
With the defeat of the Tories in the 1896 election, Foster retained his seat and joined the Opposition. He was a prominent supporter of Canada's involvement in the Anglo-Boer War from 1899 to 1901. He lost his seat in the 1900 election but returned to parliament in 1904, this time representing the riding of Toronto North in Ontario. He remained an Opposition M.P. until his party returned to government in the 1911 federal election under Robert Borden and he continued in the government under Arthur Meighen.
During his final years in cabinet, Foster served as Minister of Trade and Commerce, and received a knighthood (KCMG) in 1914 for his work in the Royal Commission on Imperial Trade; he was named to the Imperial Privy Council in 1916 and elevated to GCMG in 1918.[3] He served as a Canadian delegate to the 1919 Versailles Peace Conference. He was acting Prime Minister in 1920, when Borden was absent due to ill health. From 1920 to 1921, he was chairman of the Canadian delegation to the first assembly of the League of Nations. In 1921, he was appointed to the Canadian Senate in which he served until his death.
Death[edit]
He and his second wife are buried in Ottawa's Beechwood Cemetery, near the grave of Sir Cecil Spring Rice.
Notes[edit]
- ^ Donald G. Creighton, John A. MacDonald: The Old Chieftain (Toronto: Macmillan, 1955) pp. 450, 457, 492, 540.
- ^ Augustus Bridle, Sons of Canada: Short Studies of Characteristic Canadians (Toronto: J.M. Dent, 1916) pp. 221-227.
- ^ W. Stewart Wallace, The Memoirs of The Rt. Hon. Sir George Foster, P.C., G.C.M.G. (Toronto: Macmillan, 1933) pp. 174, 179, 189.
External links[edit]
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Foster, George Eulas. |
- George Eulas Foster – Parliament of Canada biography
- The Canadian Parliament; biographical sketches and photo-engravures of the senators and members of the House of Commons of Canada. Being the tenth Parliament, elected November 3, 1904.
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- 1847 births
- 1931 deaths
- Canadian knights
- Canadian Ministers of Finance
- Canadian senators from Ontario
- Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs
- Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) senators
- Members of the House of Commons of Canada from New Brunswick
- Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- Members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada
- Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)
- University of New Brunswick alumni
- University of New Brunswick faculty