William Maxwell Aitken (1879 - 1964)

Born 25 May 1879 in Maple, Ontario, Canada

Ancestors

Husband of Gladys Henderson (Drury) Aitken — married 29 Jan 1906 in Halifax, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Descendants

Died 9 Jun 1964 at age 85 in Surrey, England, United Kingdom

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Stu Ward [send private message]

Biography

Max Aitken is Notable.

"Max" Aitken was a Canadian-born business tycoon, politician, publisher and author.

The son of Presbyterian minister William Cuthbert Aitken and Jane Noble^[1], he was one of ten children. In 1880, the Aitkens moved from Ontario to New Brunswick, where Aitken's gift for money-making led him to pursue various ventures from journalism to selling insurance to clerking in a law office. In 1900 he began selling bonds and in eight years' time was a millionaire. After moving to London, England, in 1910, he expanded his business interests and entered politics with the help of Andrew Bonar Law. He won a seat as a Conservative in 1910 and was knighted the following year. He served as a Member of Parliament from 3 Dec 1910 to 23 Dec 1916^[2].

During World War One, he was a Colonel in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and ran the Canadian Records office in London^[3]. He played a role in David Lloyd George's accession as prime minister and Bonar Law as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was rewarded with a peerage in 1917 and, briefly, a Cabinet post as Minister of Information. Post-war, the now Lord Beaverbrook wrote several books and established a newspaper chain. He built the Daily Express into the world's most successful mass circulation newspaper. Beaverbrook supported appeasement throughout the 1930's but was persuaded by another long-standing political friend, Winston Churchill, to serve as Minister of Aircraft Production in 1940. After numerious clashes with other Cabinet members he resigned in 1941 but later in the war was appointed Lord Privy Seal. He left politics in 1945.

Beaverbrook spent his later life running his newspapers, which by then included the London Evening Standard and the Sunday Express. He served as Chancellor of the University of New Brunswick and continued to write books on political and military history.

On January 29, 1906, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, ^[4]Aitken married Gladys Henderson Drury, the daughter of Major-General Charles William Drury CBE (a first cousin of Admiral Sir Charles Carter Drury) and Mary Louise Drury (née Henderson). They had three children before her death in 1927.

Sources

1. ↑ Ontario Births, 1869-1912, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-Y3SC-6QH?cc=1784212&wc=QZ3B-GHC%3A1584203503%2C1584204203%2C1584213702 : 15 January 2016), Births > 1879 > no 39433-40855 > image 66 of 142; citing Archives of Ontario, Toronto.
2. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Max_Aitken,_1st_Baron_Beaverbrook&oldid=820584891 (accessed January 29, 2018).
3. ↑ Personnel Records of the First World War, Library and Archives Canada, online dabase and images (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=3275 : accessed 29 January 2018), RG Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF), citing item 3275, Aitken, William Maxwell.
4. ↑ Canada Marriages, 1661-1949,"database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F22G-6VL : accessed 8 March 2016), William Maxwell Aitken and Gladys Henderson Drury, 29 Jan 1906; citing Halifax, Halifax, Nova Scotia, reference p 161 cn 32; FHL microfilm 1,298,883.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Aitken,_1st_Baron_Beaverbrook
• Canadian Encyclopedia: Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook
• 'Virginia Woolf' a biography by her nephew Quentin Bell, published by The Hogarth Press, Pimlico, London in 1996. ISBN 0 7126 7450 0, includes extensive family trees. Hundreds of friends, professional connections and people in the 'Bloomsbury set' are also mentioned in the text.'Virginia Woolf' a biography by her nephew Quentin Bell