Vere Brabazon Ponsonby

Vere Brabazon Ponsonby was the only prominent British businessman ever to be Governor General of Canada. He was born into the Irish peerage and trained as a lawyer at Trinity College, Cambridge. Ponsonby was a staff officer in World War I, and served as a Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party (1910, 1913-1920). He succeeded to the earldom in 1920 and entered the House of Lords. In the 1920s the Earl of Bessborough headed the São Paulo Railway and the Margarine Union and was deputy chairman of De Beers Consolidated Mines. Sworn in as a member of the U.K. Privy Council (20 Mar 1931). The Earl of Bessborough was the first Canadian governor general appointed under the terms of a new Letter Patent signed by King George V, which confirmed that the Governor General would no longer represent the British Government. His term fell on the period of the Great Depression, which especially hard hit the Canadian economy. Bessborough inaugurated the first trans-Canadian phone system (1932) and also saw the creation of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Being an enthusiastic amateur actor, he inaugurated the Dominion Drama Festival. After his term as Governor General ended, the Earl of Bessborough returned to England and for a short time returned to his earlier business pursuits. On 2 Jun 1937, he was created 1st Earl of Bessborough in the United Kingdom for his services in Canada. During World War II, he helped establish a department within the Foreign Office that looked after the welfare of French refugees in Britain.