Leacock was  a world reknowned Canadian humourist was also a well know Professor of Social Sciences, History and writer. Between the years 1910 and 1925, he was the most widely read English-speaking author in the world. He was known for his light humour along with criticisms of people’s follies.

Leacock wrote several tomes on the history of Canada and one of his most interesting was “The Mariner of St Malo” in 1921, the story of Jacques Cartier and his explorations in Canada.

He was closely associated with Sir Arthur Currie, former commander of the Canadian Corps in the Great War and principal of McGill from 1919 until his death in 1933. In fact, Currie had been a student observing Leacock’s practice teaching in Strathroy in 1888. In 1936, Leacock was forcibly retired by the McGill Board of Governors—an unlikely prospect had Currie lived.

Leacock was both a social conservative and a partisan Conservative. He opposed giving women the right to vote, disliked non-Anglo-Saxon immigration and supported the introduction of social welfare legislation. He was a staunch champion of the British Empire and the Imperial Federation Movement and went on lecture tours to further the cause.

Although he was considered as a candidate for Dominion elections by his party, it declined to invite the author, lecturer, and maverick to stand for election. Nevertheless, he would stump for local candidates at his summer home.

click the link to read and enjoy: “The Rest of the Story“.