In the book the young Bennett dreams of becoming a schoolteacher and maybe even a lawyer. In real life he was a schoolteacher by the time
he was 16, principal of a school at 18 and by 20 was in law school at Dalhousie
in Halifax.
He started his legal career in New
Brunswick but was lured west to Calgary in the mid-1990’s by James Lougheed, a
prominent lawyer. Bennett arrived in mid-January to a classic Western Canadian
weather welcome. It was -40.
The Dictionary of Canadian
Biography ascribes the following traits to the young Bennett:
He was something of an outsider
from the very first. Never one to follow the crowd, he neither smoked nor drank
and he dressed formally at all times. He could work like a horse, long hours
with no play.
He had some classic legal battles
with Paddy Nolan who smoked, drank, dressed as he pleased and savoured long
hours of play.
Bennett was a good lawyer and a
better investor and businessman. He was an early investor in oil, grain, cement
and power companies. A staunch Methodist he made a
practice of donating 10% of his income each year to charity.
The Dictionary of Canadian
Biography further describes his character:
He loved hard work for the sheer
satisfaction of mastery, in finance, accounting, law. He was a wizard with
legal precedents and uncanny with errors in a balance sheet. At the same time
he was a sublime egotist, clever, irascible, unsparing of himself or others.
Forgiveness was one of the Christian virtues he found difficult to practise. He
had a volatile temper, explosive while it lasted. Wound up in the coils of his
own nature he seems rarely to have considered the effects of his words and
actions. His receiving antennae were weak; sometimes they did not appear even
to be deployed. R. B.’s limited receiving capacity was often the source of
his strength and courage. His future rival William Lyon Mackenzie King’s
sensitive antennae made him timid, his hypocrisy more crafty as he got older.
Bennett scorned hypocrisy. He had the dangerous habit of saying what he really
thought. What drove Bennett was his own mind, not what others might think of
him.
After spending time in federal
politics he lost his seat in Parliament and returned to the practice of law. After
almost 30 years together there was a messy breakup with Lougheed. As happens
too often when law firms separate there was litigation between the partners.
In 1922 Bennett formed a new firm Bennett,
Hannah and Sandford with two colleagues from the old firm.
Through various names the firm has
endured 92 years with the last three decades being known as Bennett Jones.
It is now Calgary’s largest law
firm with hundreds of lawyers.
Considering Bennett’s personal
combination of lawyer and businessman I expect he would like the current firm’s
motto:
Your
lawyer. Your law firm. Your business adviser.
R.B. Bennett is a Canadian success
story growing up in the Maritimes shortly after Confederation and helping
develop Western Canada before becoming our 11th Prime Minister.
I hope his firm likes The Hero of Hopewell Hill. It provides a
vivid portrayal of the firm founder as a teenage boy bravely and decisively
fighting for Canada.
My personal connection to the firm
is that my younger son, Michael, started work there as an articling student two
weeks ago.
Bill - Thanks for sharing Bennett's background. It's always really interesting to learn a little about what leaders are like as people. And it sounds as though he was a very influential attorney. I have to respect that quality of speaking one's mind, too. And congratulations to Michael on his new position. I wish him much success.
ReplyDeleteBill - Congratulation to your son Michael. I wish him all the very best in life and in his professional carreer.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, specially to those of us who don't know enough about Canada's past. And lovely personal touch at the end! Good luck to your son - my daughter started her first proper job last week...
ReplyDeleteJose Ignacio, Margot and Moira: Thanks for the kind words and good wishes for Michael. I will pass them on to him.
ReplyDeleteI learned a lot more about a Prime Minister than I had known before reading the book. One of the continuing benefits of reading.
Moira: Best wishes to her daughter. What is "her first proper job"?
She is working for a political magazine in London - going to be a journalist like her mother!
ReplyDeleteMoira: Thanks for the information. Is it not interesting that we each have children who have chosen to work in the same occupation as a parent?
Delete