Leonard Brockington
Encyclopedia
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
, QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
, LLD
Legum Doctor
Legum Doctor is a doctorate-level academic degree in law, or an honorary doctorate, depending on the jurisdiction. The double L in the abbreviation refers to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both Canon Law and Civil Law, the double L indicating the plural, Doctor of both...
(6 April 1888 – 15 September 1966) was a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, civil servant, public figure, and the first head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
(CBC).
Born in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, Brockington was educated at the University of Wales
University of Wales
The University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...
, graduating with honours in Latin and Greek. He arrived in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1912. Settling in Edmonton, Brockington became a journalist and civil servant. He studied law at the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
and became a solicitor for the city of Calgary. He then joined the Calgary law firm of James Lougheed and R. B. Bennett
R. B. Bennett
Richard Bedford Bennett, 1st Viscount Bennett, PC, KC was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He served as the 11th Prime Minister of Canada from August 7, 1930, to October 23, 1935, during the worst of the Great Depression years...
.
He served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the CBC from 1936 to 1939. He also served as:
- Special Assistant to Prime Minister Mackenzie King from 1939 to 1942
- Narrator of the introduction to Humphrey JenningsHumphrey JenningsFrank Humphrey Sinkler Jennings was an English documentary filmmaker and one of the founders of the Mass Observation organization...
Listen to Britain - Joined the law firm Gowling, MacTavish, Osborne and HendersonGowlingsGowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, Gowlings, is Canada's second largest full-service law firm, with over 750 professionals practising in 10 cities in Canada, Russia, China and the United Kingdom....
in 1942 as Counsel - Adviser on Commonwealth Affairs to the British Ministry of Information from 1942 to 1943
- a member of the Canada CouncilCanada CouncilThe Canada Council for the Arts, commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown Corporation established in 1957 to act as an arts council of the government of Canada, created to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts. It funds Canadian artists and...
- Rector of Queen's University from 1947 to 1966
An annual Visitorship was established at Queen's in 1968, to honour the memory of Brockington, with the help of funding from the Samuel McLaughlin
Samuel McLaughlin
Colonel Robert Samuel McLaughlin, CC, ED, CD was an influential Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He started the McLaughlin Motor Car Co...
Foundation. The Visitorship brings "a person of international distinction" to come to Queen's to deliver a public lecture, and to meet formally and informally with faculty, students, and community members.
Queen's has also named Brockington House, a student residence, in his memory. In 1946, he was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
.
External links
- Leonard Walter Brockington fonds at Queen’s University Archives
- Leonard Walter Brockington at The Canadian EncyclopediaThe Canadian EncyclopediaThe Canadian Encyclopedia is a source of information on Canada. It is available online, at no cost. The Canadian Encyclopedia is available in both English and French and includes some 14,000 articles in each language on a wide variety of subjects including history, popular culture, events, people,...