The Hon. Cyrus Macmillan | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Canadian Parliament for Queen's | |
| In office 1940–1945 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 12, 1878 Wood Islands, Prince Edward Island |
| Died | June 29, 1953 (aged 74) |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse | Margaret Brower |
| Cabinet | Minister of Fisheries (1930) |
| Committees | Chair, Special Committee on Pension Act and War Veterans' Allowance Act (1940–1942) Chair, Special Committee on Land Settlement of Veterans of the Present War (1940–1942) Chair, Special Committee on Honours and Decorations (1940–1942) Chair, Special Committee on Social Security (1942–1943) |
| Portfolio | Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of National Defence for Air (1943–1946) |
Cyrus Macmillan, PC (September 12, 1878 – June 29, 1953) was a Canadian academic, writer and politician.
Born in Wood Islands, Prince Edward Island, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1900 from McGill University. He was appointed to the faculty of Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown (1901–1907). He received a Master of Arts (1905) and Ph.D. (1909( from Harvard University and started as a contract lecturer at McGill. He joined the faculty full time in 1911. During World War I, he took a leave from McGill and served with both the 6th and the 7th Canadian Siege Battery, 1916–19. After the war, he resumed his faculty position at the rank of Associate Professor and in 1923 was appointed Chair of the English department. From 1940 to 1947, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science, retiring in the latter year.
His entry to politics was through appointments to the federal Royal Commission on Maritime Claims (1926) and Atlantic Fisheries (1928). He chaired the Royal Commission on Education for Prince Edward Island in 1929. In June 1930, he was appointed Minister of Fisheries in the cabinet of Liberal Prime Minister Mackenzie King. He was defeated in July's 1930 federal election in the Prince Edward Island riding of Queen's. In 1940, he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the riding of Queen's. He was defeated in 1945. From 1943 to 1946, he was the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of National Defence for Air and served on or chaired numerous government committees.
A staunch member of the Presbyterian Church of Canada, he played an important role in its continuation after many adherents joined the United Church of Canada. Just prior to church union to form the United Church of Canada, he served as the sole lay delegate to the Church of Scotland assembly in Edinburgh, in May 1925, where he successfully argued with his cousin the Rev. Dr. Daniel Fraser, for the continued recognition of the Presbyterian Church in Canada.
He is the author of McGill and Its Story, 1821-1921 (1921), Canadian Wonder Tales (1918) and Canadian Fairy Tales (1922)