For the philosopher, see Robert Mayhew (philosopher)

Robert Wellington Mayhew, (October 13, 1880 – July 28, 1971) 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...

 politician and diplomat.

Born in Cobden, Ontario

Cobden, Ontario

Cobden is a small community in the Township of Whitewater Region, in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada. It is located roughly halfway between Renfrew, Ontario and Pembroke, Ontario on Highway 17...

, the son of Charles Mayhew and Sarah Dunlop Mayhew, he founded the Sidney Roofing and Paper Co. Ltd. in 1912 which became one of Victoria

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

's largest businesses.

He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 for the riding of Victoria

Victoria (electoral district)

Victoria is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1872 to 1904 and since 1925....

 in a 1937 by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

. A Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

, he was re-elected in 1940

Canadian federal election, 1940

The Canadian federal election of 1940 was the 19th general election in Canadian history. It was held March 26, 1940 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 19th Parliament of Canada...

, 1945

Canadian federal election, 1945

The Canadian federal election of 1945 was the 20th general election in Canadian history. It was held June 11, 1945 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 20th Parliament of Canada...

, and 1949

Canadian federal election, 1949

The Canadian federal election of 1949 was held on June 27 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 21st Parliament of Canada. It was the first election in Canada in almost thirty years in which the Liberal Party of Canada was not led by William Lyon Mackenzie King. King had...

. From 1945 to 1948, he was the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Finance. From 1948 to 1952, he was the Minister of Fisheries. From 1952 to 1954, he was the first Canadian Ambassador to Japan.

In 1951, in San Francisco, along with the honorable M Pearson, he signed, on behalf of Canada, the Peace Treaty with Japan.

In 1966, he was awarded the City of Victoria's Freedom of the City, the highest award given by the city, for "eminent public service".

He married Grace Logan in 1908 and had three children. His only daughter, Jean Edwards Mayhew, married to James Alexander Lawrason, died January 5, 2006 in Peterborough, Ontario

Peterborough, Ontario

Peterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in southern Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto. The population of the City of Peterborough was 74,898 as of the 2006 census, while the census metropolitan area has a population of 121,428 as of a 2009 estimate. It presently ranks...

.

External links

• Robert Wellington Mayhew fonds at University of Victoria, Special Collections