Arthur Meighen

Arthur Meighen, PC, QC (; June 16, 1874 – August 5, 1960) was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served two terms as the ninth Prime Minister of Canada: from July 10, 1920 to December 29, 1921; and from June 29 to September 25, 1926. He was the first Prime Minister born after Confederation, and the only one to represent a riding in Manitoba. Both of his terms of office were brief. Meighen later served for a decade in the Senate of Canada, and failed in a political comeback attempt in 1941-42, after which he returned to the practice of law.

Early life

Arthur Meighen was born on a farm near Anderson, Ontario, to Joseph Meighen and Mary Jane Bell. He attended primary school at Blanshard SS# 1 Anderson, where, in addition to being the grandson of the village's first schoolmaster, he was an exemplary student. In 1892, during his final high school year at St. Marys Collegiate Institute, which later became North Ward Public School in St. Marys (now known as Arthur Meighen Public School) Meighen was elected secretary of the Literary Society and was an expert debater in the school Debating Society. He received first class honours in Mathematics, English, and Latin.

University, family

He then attended University College at the University of Toronto, where he earned a B.A. in Mathematics in 1896, with first-class standing. While there, he met and became a rival of William Lyon Mackenzie King; the two men, both future prime ministers, did not get along...
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