Cash on Delivery (C.O.D.) Service:
Elizabethan Period to 1967
[Information for this post has been provided by a prominent Canadian postal historian whose generous assistance is greatly appreciated]




Definition

Mail matter which was posted at an accounting post office in Canada for delivery at any post office within Canada, or any rural route, within Canada, could be sent subject to C.O.D. service. Up to $100 charges due to the sender from the addressed could be collected and remitted to the sender by post office money order.


Fee to be Prepaid

The C.O.D. fee in addition to the ordinary postage was to be prepaid.


C.O.D. Fee Periods

There were three C.O.D. fee periods during the time period covered in this post:

1) To March 31, 1964
2) April 1, 1964 to September 30, 1967
3) From October 1, 1967


Money Order Fee

In addition to the sum to be remitted to the sender, the addressee was charged a fee required on a money order for the amount due to the sender. The money order fees were not remitted to the sender but the amount of the fee was written on the triangular C.O.D. sticker attached to the C.O.D. item. There were two Money Order Fee periods during the time period covered in this post:

1) To October 31, 1963
2) From November 1, 1964


Four C.O.D. items from the Elizabethan period to 1967 are shown in this post in addition to C.O.D. remittance envelopes in which money orders for amounts collected from addressees by the Post Office was mailed to senders.

C.O.D. ITEM 1

The C.O.D. item shown below was mailed at the letter rate from the Ontario Office of the Registrar-General. The amount to be collected for the sender from the addressee was 60 cents.


Toronto to Woodstock, January 10, 1957


Franking Paid by the Sender



Forward Letter Rate............5 cents
C.O.D. fee up to $2.............10 cents
Total...................................15 cents


Total Collected from the Addressee


(Registrar-General C.O.D. label)

Charge to Sender.....................60 cents
Money Order Commission...... 4 cents
Total......................................64 cents


C.O.D. ITEM 2
The second item shown below was a parcel mailed from Westbank, B.C. to Salmon Arm, B.C., on March 23, 1961. The amount to be collected for the sender from the addressee was 85 cents.




Franking Paid by the Sender



There are two possible C.O.D. fees depending upon the amount of C.O.D. parcel insurance selected.

a) Minimum Insurance Up To $50 : Free

Parcel postage (7 lb.)............75 cents
C.O.D. fee up to $2.............10 cents (Insurance to $50)
Total...................................85 cents

b) Insurance > $50 and up to $100 : 30 cents C.O.D. fee

Parcel postage (4 lb. 90z to 5lb)............55 cents
C.O.D. fee up to $100.......................30 cents (Insurance >$50 and up to $100)
Total................................................85 cents


Total Collected from Addressee



Charge to Sender.....................85 cents
Money Order Commission....... 4 cents
Total....................................... 89 cents


C.O.D. ITEM 3

The next item is an undated parcel from St. Albert, Alberta, to Milk River Alberta. The amount to be collected from the addressee was $1.75. The Money Order Commmission of 10 cents indicates that the parcel was mailed after October 31, 1963, since the Money Order Commission for $1.75 increased from 9 cents to 10 cents on November 1, 1963.




Franking Paid by the Sender



There are two possible rates in this case depending upon when the parcel was mailed.

a) October 1, 1963 - March 31, 1964

The minimum C.O.D. Fee was 10 cents.

Parcel postage (8-9 oz.)............10 cents
C.O.D. fee up to $2..................10 cents
Total........................................20 cents

b) March 31, 1964 - October 31, 1967

The minimum C.O.D. fee was 15 cents

Parcel postage (up to 4 oz.)............5 cents
C.O.D. fee up to $2.......................15 cents
Total...........................................20 cents


Total Collected from Addressee


Charge to Sender.....................$1.75
Money Order Commission.........0.10
Total.......................................$1.85

C.O.D. ITEM 4
The final C.O.D. item is an undated parcel tag mailed from Valley Gardens, Gilford, Ontario, to Hope, British Columbia. The amount to be collected was 99 cents.




Franking Paid by the Sender



The parcel was mailed after February 8, 1967 (issue date of the Centennial definitives) but prior to November 1, 1967. The most likely rate would have been :

Parcel postage (4 lb. 6 0z.).......84 cents
C.O.D. fee up to $2...............15 cents
Total...................................99 cents

(If mailed after September 30, 1967, the minimum C.O.D. fee would have been 50 cents, leaving 49 cents to pay the parcel rate; however, 49 cents was not a parcel rate to B.C. at that time)


Total Collected from Addressee



Charge to Sender.....................99 cents
Money Order Commission....... 5 cents
Total....................................... $1.04



C.O.D. Remittance Envelopes


Ottawa local mail, June 8, 1968


Centennial Envelope

For the Centennial Year celebrations, Canada Post prepared C.O.D. remittance envelopes featuring both the Centennial Year and Expo 67 logos.


August 18, 1967 to Burlington

General Manuel Noriega P.O.W.
Correspondence to Canada
This post shows a cover and autographed letter received from Manuel Noriega while he was a prisoner at the Federal Correctional Institute in Miami in 2009.

Manuel Noriega
General Manuel Noriega was the de facto leader of Panama from 1983 to 1989. The 1989 invasion of Panama by the United States removed him from power. Noriega was captured, detained as a prisoner of war, and flown to Miami where he was tried on eights counts of drug trafficking, racketeering and money laundering in April 1992. Under Article 85 of the Third Geneva Convention Noriega was still considered a prisoner of war. In Florida he had his own prison cell furnished with electronics and exercise equipment.

His prison sentence ended in September 2007. Noriega remained at the Federal Correctional Institute in Miami pending resolution of extradition requests from France and Panama. In April 2010, Noriega boarded a flight to Paris to face charges of money laundering. After a re-trial as a condition of the extradition, he was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in jail in July 2010. On December 11, 2011, Noriega was extradited to Panama.

Correspondence from General Noriega
The cover and letter below were sent by General Noriega (POW) to the author on July 29, 2009. The "Undercover Address", P.O. Box 779800, Miami, Fl., printed on the return address label conceals the fact that the correspondence had been sent from the Federal Correctional Institute, Miami.

Envelope


From "POW" General Manuel Noriega to Ontario, July 29, 2009

Undercover Address

Manuel Noriega added "GR" and "POW" to the printed returned address label:


P.O. Box 770800, Miami Fl.


General Noriega's Letter

Princess Alice and Dehydrated Orange Juice




In 1945, Princess Alice, the wife of then Canadian Governor-General Lord Athlone had been provided samples of dehydrated orange juice. The delightful correspondence from Princess Alice is the subject of this post.

Dehydrated Orange Juice

During the war years of the 1940s, the National Research Corporation (NRC) of Cambridge, Mass., developed a high vacuum process for dehydrating medical products such as penicillin. The U.S. Army asked NRC to apply this technological advance to food, especially orange juice. In 1945, NRC developed a method of concentrating orange juice into a powder, creating the Florida Foods Corporation to supply the military. When the war ended a few months later, the contract was cancelled causing Florida Foods to shift to the commercial market. The company moved away from the dehydrated product and decided to create frozen orange juice concentrate. The company renamed itself Minute Maid in April, 1946.

Minute Maid has never made its dehydrated orange juice available to the public despite reports that the product closely matched the taste of fresh-squeezed orange juice.


The Vice-Regal Couple

On June 21, 1940, Major-General Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone (1874 – 1957) was sworn-in as Canada's 16th Governor-General on June 21 1940 and served until 1946. He succeeded John Buchan who had died in office on February 11, 1940, after suffering a stroke.

Princess Alice (1883-1981), Lord Athlone's wife, was a grandchild of Queen Victoria and a first cousin to Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.
















Princess Alice and Lord Athlone


Princess Alice's Orange Juice Letter

The 1945 letter shown below was addressed to a Mr. Scully, a resident of New York City, and was franked by the Assistant Secretary to the Governor-General. Since the free mail privilege only applied to domestic mail the envelope should have been franked with a 4 cent stamp.


Princess Alice to New York, December 12, 1945



Initials in the lower left corner of the envelope

AM = Alice Mary





Transcription of the letter:

11-12-45

Dear Mr. Scully:

How kind + prompt you have been about those precious crystals. I had no idea one could not order as many as one liked. I am rather horrified at my "faux pas". However you got over the dilemma splendidly. I told George to let his mother know that she need not ... bothered over the strange people sending her parcels-He says you cannot possibly tell orange drink made from these crystals from fresh fruit, which is rather wonderful.

With all kind thoughts
Affectionately yours
Alice Mary



Princess Alice's signature

Although the manufacturer of the orange crystals is not identified, it is most likely that the Princess had received samples of the NCR dehydrated juice. The letter captures the thoughtfulness and kindness of Princess Alice who, as vicereine of Canada, supported the war effort by serving as Honorary Commandant of the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service, Honorary Air Commandant of the Royal Canadian Air Force (Women's Division) and president of the nursing division of the St. John Ambulance Brigade.




A Question for Food Scientists

Calling all food scientists! Can anyone explain why Minute Maid has never marketed dehydrated orange juice powder?

The War Years:
Dutch Royalty in Canada
On May 10, 1940 Germany invaded the Netherlands. Two days later the entire Dutch royal family fled to England aboard HMS Codrington, sent by George VI. While Queen Wilhelmina established her government-in-exile in London, Princess Juliana (heiress to the throne) took her daughters to Canada.


Princess Juliana c.1940

The Princess and her daughters Beatrix (now Queen of the Netherlands) and Irene sailed to Canada aboard the Dutch ship "Sumatra" arriving in Halifax on June 11, 1940.


Arrival in Halifax, June 11, 1940 Princess Juliana
and her daughters disembarking from the Dutch
ship "Sumatra"

The Princess and her family resided at Stornoway in Rockcliffe, a suburb of Ottawa during their five year sojourn in Canada.


Stornoway

During the war, Juliana's husband Prince Bernhard was stationed in London as part of the Allied war planning councils and an active RAF wing commander flying both fighter and bomber planes into combat.

Princess Juliana , Prince Berhard and their
eldest daughters in Ottawa

Princess Margriet

Juliana's third daughter, Margriet, was born January 19th, 1943 at the Ottawa Civic Hospital (the land under the hospital was temporarily placed under Dutch control so that the princess could remain Dutch and would therefore not obtain a double nationality).


Christening of Princess Margriet, at Saint Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Ottawa, June 29, 1943
Seated (from right to left) in the front row are Prince Bernhard; Princess Juliana with infant daughter Princess Margriet; Princess Beatrix; Princess Irene; Queen Wilhelmina; the Governor General, the Earl of Athlone; Princess Alice. Mackenzie King is seated in the second row behind Queen Wilhelmina.



Princess Juliana with Queen Wilhelmina, Prince Bernhard
and the three princesses at Stornoway, 1943.


Office of the Aide-de-Camp to H.R.H. Princess Juliana correspondence


Ottawa to Millhaven, Georgia, December 27, 1943





Juliana's "Thank You" Gift to Canada

Juliana returned to the Netherlands in May, 1945. To thank the Canadians for their hospitality, Princess Juliana sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa in1945. Since then, the Dutch send 20,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa each year, which has led to the creation of the Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa.

2002 commemorative stamp

(Juliana became Queen of the Netherlands with Wilhelmina's abdication in 1948 and was succeeded by Queen Beatrix after her own abdication in 1980.)

House of Commons Mail
Part III
16th - 20th Parliaments (1926 - 1949)

This post is the third in a series dealing with mail from the House of Commons. In this part, mail from the 16th to 20th Parliaments (1926-1949) is shown.

16th Parliament: December 9, 1926 - May 30, 1930

Prime Minister : William Lyon Mackenzie King

Franklin Smoke



















Franklin Smoke (1860-1937) was the Conservative Member of Parliament for the Ontario riding of Brant from 1926 to 1935. Smoke attended public and secondary schools at Paris, Ontario then proceeded to studies at Osgoode Hall Law School. In 1908, he was appointed King's Counsel.


Franklin Smoke


Franklin Smoke to Jacksonville, Fl., March 28, 1930


Thomas Merritt Cayley

Thomas Merritt Cayley (1878 – 1933) was the Liberal Member of Parliament for the riding of Oxford South from 1926 to 1933. He spent 18 years teaching in the public schools of Ontario, the last 13 in Norwich while for 4 years he was principal of the Norwich Continuation School. He was secretary treasurer of the Otter Mutual Insurance Company and secretary-treasurer of the Mutual Fire Underwriters of Ontario.



Thomas Merritt Cayley


Thomas Merritt Cayley to Norwich, June 6, 1928


Correspondence from Thomas Cayley


17th Parliament: Sept. 8, 1930 - August 14, 1935

Prime Minister : Richard Bennett

Charles Marcil

Charles Marcil, (1860 – 1937) was was first elected to the House of Commons as a Liberal Member of Parliament in the 1900 election and represented the Quebec riding of Bonaventure until his death in 1937. Marcil served as Speaker of the House from 1909 to 1911.





Charles Marcil


Charles Marcil to Ottawa (re-directed to Quebec) , April 14, 1932


J.S. Woodworth



James Shaver Woodsworth is considered to have been one of the half-dozen most important national political figures in twentieth-century Canadian history. The Canadian Museum of Civilization's website provides this biography of J.S. Woodworth:

Born in Ontario but raised in Manitoba, James Shaver Woodsworth (1874–1942), was a Methodist clergyman, social worker, politician, and the first leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.

Woodsworth started out as a Methodist clergyman in 1896, but had become a social worker in Winnipeg’s North End by 1904. His experience of urban slums convinced him that socialism was the solution to poverty. Despite being fired from his position as a government social researcher in 1917 for being a pacifist and arrested for libel during the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, Woodsworth’s ideals made him a popular Winnipeg politician.

His popularity led to his election as the Member of Parliament for Winnipeg North Centre in 1921, a riding that he held until his death. As a Member of Parliament, Woodsworth consistently campaigned for labour rights, improved social welfare measures and democratic socialism. Although he failed to make socialism a reality in Canada, he succeeded, in 1926–1927, in persuading Prime Minister Mackenzie King to introduce an old-age pension plan — Canada’s first social welfare legislation — in exchange for providing the votes Mackenzie King needed to stay in power.

J.S. Woodsworth


J.S. Woodsworth to Winnipeg, February 18, 1933


Agnes Campbell Macphail : Canada's First Female M.P.


In 1919 the Election Act was amended so that any British subject of the full age of 21 years, male or female, might be a candidate for election to the House of Commons. In the following general election, in 1921, Agnes Macphail was one of four women who ran for election, but she was the only one elected. She took her seat in the House of Commons on March 8, 1922, and was a member until the general election of 1940, when she was defeated. She was subsequently elected to the Ontario Legislature as a CCF candidate in 1943 and 1948.

Agnes Macphail (1890 - 1954) had been a school-teacher, and ran for election under the banner of the United Farmers of Ontario. However, she had been a member of the CCF from its foundation, and was essentially a farmer-Labour representative. She was deeply interested in the organization of co-operatives for the marketing of farm products. She also was keenly concerned with working conditions, and personally investigated conditions in the Cape Breton mining area in the early 1920's. Perhaps her most important contribution, however, was to prison reform. She was largely responsible for the setting up of a Royal Commission in 1936 to study the Canadian Penal system.








Agnes Campbell Macphail


Agnes Macphail to Guelph, May 10, 1933


Robert James Manion

Robert James Manion (1881-1943) was a physician and politician. He was elected MP for Fort William from 1925 to 1935. Following the election of 1930, Conservative Prime minister R.B. Bennett appointed Manion Minister of Railways and Canals. Manion was defeated in the 1935 federal election.

In July 1938 Manion was elected leader of the Conservative Party. Manion won a by-election in London later that year and opposed conscription after WWII broke out. Hostility from hard-line Toronto Tories over his nonconscription policy, contributed to the party's poor showing in the March 1940 election. He lost his own seat and resigned his party leadership in May of that year.








Robert James Manion Minister of Railways and Canals




Robert James Manion to Port Arthur, March 25, 1935


Eusebe Roberge

Eusebe Roberge was the Liberal Member of Parliament for the Quebec riding of Megantic from 1922 to 1935 and Megantic-Frontenac from 1935 to 1940.




Eusebe Robert


Eusebe Robert to Montreal, February 19, 1934


George Brecken Nicholson

George Brecken Nicholson was the M.P. for the Ontario riding of Algoma East from 1918-1926 (Unionist), 1926 and 1930-35 (Conservative). In business, he was part of the lumber firm Austin and Nicholson and became president and secretary-treasurer of the McNaught Lumber company. Nicholson was also a director of the Excelsior Life Insurance company.





George Brecken Nicholson


George Brecken Nicholson to Sudbury, April 10, 1933

Edgar Nelson Rhodes

Edgar Nelson Rhodes was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Richmond-West Cape Breton, N.S.and served as Minister of Finance from 1932 to 1935

Edgar Nelson Rhodes

Ottawa to Chatham, September 29, 1934


18th Parliament: Feb. 6, 1936 - January 21, 1940

Prime Minister : William Lyon Mackenzie King

Almon Secord Rennie

Almon Secord Rennie (1882 – 1949) was the Liberal Member of Parliament for the Ontario riding of Oxford from 1935 t0 1945. A merchant by career, Rennie was mayor of Tillsonburg from 1922 to 1924 and served as a deputy reeve for Oxford County council.




Almon Secord Rennie


Almon Secord Rennie to Norwich, February 11, 1939

Burton Maxwell Hill
Burton Maxwell Hill (1883-1963) was the Liberal Member of Parliament for the New Brunswick riding of Charlotte from 1935 to 1945. From 1918 to 1925, he was the New Brunswick provincial Deputy Minister of Public Works. In 1925, Hill became a full provincial minister of Public Works but resigned later that year after the government was defeated in an election where Hill did not win a seat. In 1929 and 1930, he was commissioner for the Saint John Harbour Board.











Burton Maxwell Hill


Burton Maxwell Hill to Saint John, February 18, 1936


Douglas Gooderham Ross

Douglas Gooderham Ross (1883 – 1961) was the Conservative member for the Ontario riding of St. Paul's from 1936 to 1949. Ross was vice-president of the Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company. Ross was not fond of CBC radio personality Max Ferguson's satirical Rawhide show describing it in the House of Commons as "meaningless ravings and tripe" and as an insult to the intelligence of Canadians.











Douglas Gooderham Ross


Douglas Gooderham Ross to Toronto, March 12, 1937


Harry R. Fleming

Harry Fleming M.D. (1894-1942) was the Liberal Member of Parliament for the Saskatchewan riding of Humboldt from 1936 to 1942.




Harry R. Fleming


Harry R. Fleming to Melville, Sask., March 10, 1939


House of Commons Members Stenographers


Members Stenographer to Markdale, June 2, 1939



Members Stenographers
J.H.S.


Arthur Beauchesne : Clerk of the House of Commons


Arthur Beauchesne (1876 – 1959) was a Canadian civil servant who was Clerk of the House of Commons from 1925 to 1949. He is the author of the procedural manual, Rules and Forms of the House of Commons of Canada, which is used by Canadian Members of Parliament during parliamentary debates. In 2003, he was designated a Person of National Historic Significance.











Arthur Beauchesne, Clerk of the House of Commons


Library of Parliament





The Library of Parliament is the main information repository and research resource for the Parliament of Canada. The main branch of the library sits at the rear of the Centre Block on Parliament Hill and is the last untouched part of that larger building's original incarnation, after it burned down in 1916.


Library of Parliament to Toronto, April 26, 1939
Registered : House of Commons registration handstamp

Felix Desrochers : General Librarian 1933 -1956

The biography of Felix Desrochers can be found at the Canadian Parliamentary Review website.


Felix Desrochers, B.G. (Bibliothécaire Général)


Sergeant at Arms : Major Milton Fowler Gregg

Major Milton Fowler Gregg (1892 – 1978) was the recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest Commonwealth award for gallantry "in the face of the enemy", during the First World War.

The citation for Gregg's Victoria Cross reads:

Lt. Milton Fowler Gregg, M.C., R. Can. Regt., Nova Scotia R. - For most conspicuous bravery and initiative during operations near Cambrai, 27th September to 1st October, 1918.

On 28th September, when the advance of the brigade was held up by fire from both flanks and by thick, uncut wire, he crawled forward alone and explored the wire until he found a small gap through which he subsequently led his men and forced an entry into the enemy trench. The enemy counter-attacked in force and, through lack of bombs, the situation became critical. Although wounded Lt. Gregg returned alone under terrific fire and collected a further supply. Then rejoining his party, which by this time was much reduced in numbers, and in spite of a second wound, he reorganized his men and led them with the greatest determination against the enemy trenches, which he finally cleared. He personally killed or wounded 11 of the enemy and took 25 prisoners, in addition to 12 machine guns captured in the trench. Remaining with his company in spite of wounds he again on the 30th September led his men in attack until severely wounded. The outstanding valour of this officer saved many casualties and enabled the advance to continue.

From 1934 until 1939 he was the Sergeant at Arms of the House of Commons. Following the outbreak of World War II , Gregg served overseas for two years and then commanded officer training centres at various military facilities in Canada.

In 1944, he was appointed President of the University of New Brunswick, serving in that position until 1947 when he was elected to Parliament as Liberal Member for York-Sunbury riding. Gregg served in the cabinets of Prime Ministers William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent for almost ten years as the Minister of Fisheries, Minister of Veterans Affairs, and Minister of Labour.









Milton F. Gregg Sergeant-at-Arms


Sergeant-at-Arms to Toronto, November 6, 1936


Tourist Mail : The Nursing Sisters Memorial

The post card shown below featured a photograph of the Nursing Sisters Memorial.


House of Commons to Clayton, N.Y., September 29, 1937



The Nursing Sisters Memorial



The Nursing Sisters' Memorial is located in the Hall of Honour in the Centre Block on Parliament Hill. The completed panel was unveiled during the summer of 1926 to honour the forty-six matrons and nursing sisters who lost their lives during the Great War.


19th Parliament : May 16, 1940 - April 6, 1945

Prime Minister : William Lyon Mackenzie King

William Henry Moore

William Henry Moore (1872 – 1960) was the Liberal Member of Parliament for the Ontario riding of Ontario from 1930 to 1945.
Moore, a lawyer, was also the author of several books dealing with culture and economics. According to Graham Fraser, Canada's sixth Commissioner of Official Languages:

"William Moore was an improbable defender of French-language rights in Canada. He was, as he listed proudly in his biography, of United Empire Loyalist descent, and a farmer in Pickering, Ontario. ...In 1918, when World War I was still raging and in the aftermath of Regulation 17, which abolished French-language education in Ontario, Moore wrote a remarkable book entitled The Clash: A Study in Nationalities. In the book, he argued that British traditions called for bilingualism and inclusion, and shrewdly contrasted them with what he called the rigid Prussian approach."

William Henry Moore


William Henry Moore to Eden, February 23, 1942


James Angus MacKinnon

James Angus MacKinnon (1881-1958) was the Liberal Member of Parliament for the Alberta riding of Edmonton West from 1935 to 1949. He held many cabinet positions including Minister without Portfolio, Minister of Trade and Commerce, Minister of National Revenue (Acting), Minister of Fisheries, and Minister of Mines and Resources. In 1949, he was called to the Senate representing the senatorial division of Edmonton, Alberta. From 1949 to 1950, while a senator, he was a Minister without Portfolio in the cabinet of Louis St-Laurent.











James Angus MacKinnon




James Angus MacKinnon to New York World's Fair, New York, July 4, 1940


Charles Stephen Booth


Charles Stephen Booth (1897-1988) was elected in 1940 as a Member of the Liberal Party to represent the riding of Winnipeg North. Prior to his federal political experience, he served overseas in the Western University Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force then in northern Russia as a pilot. In 1936 he became a lieutenant colonel and commander of the Winnipeg light infantry. From there he moved to London, England where he was placed with the 1st Canadian Corps Headquarters and promoted to colonel where he also achieved the ranks of Assistant Deputy Adjutant General, Brigadier and then Deputy Adjutant General.











Charles Stephen Booth to North Hatley, Quebec, July 17, 1943


House of Commons Reading Room

The Reading Room, located close to the Commons chamber, provided parliamentarians, staff, and members of the press gallery with an extensive collection of Canadian and foreign newspapers and periodicals including numerous local weekly papers. In 1990, the Reading Room was converted to a committee room. A detailed history of the House of Commons Reading Room can be found at the Canadian Parliamentary Review website.


House of Commons Reading Room


House of Commons Reading Room handstamp


Huuse of Commons Reading Room to Hamilton, June 20, 1940
Arthur Beauchesne Clerk of the House of Commons handstamp


Brooke Claxton

Brooke Claxton was the Liberal Member of Parliament for the Quebec riding of St-Lawrence-St-Georges from 1940 to 1954. Claxton served as the Minister of National Health and Welfare and as Minister of National Defence.

Claxton contributions included establishing the CBC, building the welfare state, creating the modern Canadian military, and setting up the Canada Council.








Brooke Claxton


Brook Claxton to New York, May 1, 1943


House of Commons dated roller cancellation


Charles Edward Johnston

Charles Edward Johnston (1899 - 1971) was a teacher and a politician. He served as the Social Credit Member of Parliament for the Alberta riding of Bow River from 1935 to 1958. He moved to provincial politics and served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1959 to 1967 for the governing Alberta Social Credit party.












Charles Edward Johnston


Charles Edward Johnston to Berkeley, Calif., April 5, 1943
4 cents surface letter rate + 10 cents registration fee


Almon Secord Rennie

Almon Secord Rennie (1882 – 1949) was the Liberal Member of Parliament for the Ontario riding of Oxford from 1935 t0 1945. A merchant by career, Rennie was mayor of Tillsonburg from 1922 to 1924 and served as a deputy reeve for Oxford County council.





Almon Secord Rennie to Lachine, February 16, 1943


Rennie correspondence


Manley Edwards

Manley Justin Edwards (1892 - 1962) was a barrister, teacher and Canadian federal politician. He was the Liberal Member of Parliament for the Alberta riding of Calgary West from 1940 to 1945.




Manley Edwards


Manley Edwards to Toronto, March 5, 1941


Ralph Maybank

Ralph Maybank (1890-1965) was the Liberal Member of Parliament for the Manitoba riding of Winnipeg South Centre from 1936 to 1951. He held positions of Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health and Welfare (October 1947 to January 1949), and Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Mines and Resources (January 1949 to July 1951). He was appointed a judge of the Manitoba Court of King's Bench in July 1951.




Ralph Maybank


Ralph Maybank to Winnipeg, April 5, 1944


M. J. Coldwell

Major James William Coldwell (1888 – 1974), was a social democratic politician and leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation party from 1942 to 1960. Coldwell was the C.C.F. Member of Parliament for the Saskatchewan riding of Rosetown-Biggar from 1935 to 1958.

Coldwell was respected by his peers in other political parties and was offered Cabinet posts in provincial and federal governments, Speakership of the House of Commons and a Senate seat. He served as a member of the Canadian delegation at the creation of the United Nations. Coldwell was named to the Privy Council (1964) and made a Companion of the Order of Canada (1967). The Douglas-Coldwell Foundation, a left-wing educational organization, is named after two remarkable Saskatchewan political figures.






M. J. Coldwell


M. J. Coldwell to Montreal, March 24, 1945


Coldwell with a young David Lewis (N.D.P. leader 1971- 1975)


20th Parliament : September 6, 1945 - April 30, 1949

Prime Ministers:William Lyon Mackenzie King
Louis St. Laurent

Frederick Samuel Zaplitny

Frederick Samuel Zaplitny (1913-1964) was the C.C.F. Member of Parliament for the Manitoba riding of Daupin from 1945 to 1949 and 1953 to 1958.He operated an insurance and real estate brokerage in Dauphin, and he was president of the Dauphin Chamber of Commerce at the time of his death.




Frederick Samuel Zaplitny


Frederick Samuel Zaplitny to Dauphin, April 6, 1949


Gaspard Fauteux

Gaspard Fauteux was the Liberal Member of Parliament for the Quebec riding of St. Mary from 1942 to 1949. In 1945, Fauteux was elected as Speaker of the House of Commons, a position he held until his resignation from the House in 1949. The following year he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, a position he held until 1958.




Gaspard Fauteux


Speaker of the House of Commons


Gaspard Fauteux to the Italian Ambassador, Ottawa, November 15, 1948


Frank Lennard

Frank Lennard was the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for the Ontario riding of Wentworth from 1936 to 1940 and 1945 to 1962.




Frank E. Lennard


First day cover sent by M.P. Frank Lennard, October 1, 1948


George Black

George Black (1873 – 1965) was an administrator and politician in Yukon Territory. He went to the Yukon in 1898 during the Gold Rush and prospected for gold, making a fortune and losing it when his claim was swept away in a flood. He then established a law practice in Dawson City.

During World War I, Black recruited a regiment from the Yukon to fight in the war. He became the company's Captain , and was wounded in combat.

Black was the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament from 1921 to 1934 and 1940 to 1949. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1930 to 1935. In 1935 he resigned his seat for health reasons. His wife, Martha Black, ran in his place as an "Independent Conservative". She held the seat, becoming the second woman elected to the House of Commons (the first being Agnes Macphail) , and the first American-born woman to do so.

In 1940 Martha stepped aside, allowing her husband Black to run for the Yukon seat which he held until 1949.



George Black


George Black to Ketchikan, Alaska, June 13, 1947


Library of Parliament : Francis Aubrey Hardey

Francis Aubrey Hardy was the Parliamentary Librarian from 1944 - 1959.



Francis Aubrey Hardy


Library of Parliament to Victoria, August 20, 1945