Background
McArthur was born to Scottish immigrant farmers on March 10, 1866, in Ekfrid Township (now incorporated in Southwest Middlesex), Ontario, Canada. He was the son of Peter, a farmer, and Catherine McLennan McArthur, a fanner.
27 King's College Cir, Toronto, ON M5S, Canada
McArthur attended the University of Toronto.
McArthur was born to Scottish immigrant farmers on March 10, 1866, in Ekfrid Township (now incorporated in Southwest Middlesex), Ontario, Canada. He was the son of Peter, a farmer, and Catherine McLennan McArthur, a fanner.
Growing up, McArthur read obsessively, which helped him continue his studies when illness and a lack of money kept him out of school from 1880 to 1885. McArthur made full use of the libraries provided by the family clergyman and the Mechanics’ Institute. While still in high school, he had already begun publishing his essays in the Stratford Age. He earned his teaching certificate in December 1887 and taught for six months. He then left teaching to attend the University of Toronto for just under a year, abandoning his studies because of debts.
McArthur sent his jokes and cartoons to periodicals in New York, where he moved in 1890. He found his way into a circle of Canadian expatriates, including Charles G. D. Roberts, Bliss Carman, and C. W. Jefferys, and supported himself for five years as a freelance writer and humorist until he was hired as the editor of Truth magazine in 1985. McArthur left Truth because of disagreement just two years later. He freelanced until 1902 when he left for London to start his own magazine. These plans were never realized, however, and he continued freelancing, becoming one of only two other North Americans to ever contribute work to Punch magazine. He also wrote his first book at this time. In To Be Taken with Salt: Being An Essay on Teaching One’s Grandmother to Suck Eggs, published in 1903, McArthur satirically pits the Old World against the New World.
In 1904 McArthur left London for a partnership opportunity in an advertising agency back in New York. He published Prodigal and Other Poems (1907), a collection of writings including a mother’s lullaby and an Indian wind song and involving figures such as Bob Fitzsimmons and Sara Bernhardt. Still, McArthur was struggling financially and moved back to Canada in 1908.
He performed public-relations services for the Liberal party for a few months before returning permanently to his family’s farm. There, he continued writing while farming, starting his own magazine - Ourselves - in 1910. The rural magazine failed in 1912, but his criticism of the Canadian banking system prompted an invitation to appear before the Committee on Banking and Commerce in 1913. As he became better known as a literary and political figure, McArthur was asked to lead the United Farmers party in 1919. He declined an offer, and instead became the provisional director of the Ontario Equitable Trust Corporation in 1922. He also organized and directed Bliss Carman’s trans-Canadian poetry tour in 1923.
McArthur died in London, Ontario, at the age of 58 after undergoing surgery at the Victoria Hospital. The McArthur family homestead was later moved to Doon Heritage Village in Kitchener.
Quotations: “The man who wishes to learn the human side of fanning may find something to interest him, but the man who consults these pages for scientific information does so at his peril.”
Quotes from others about the person
"McArthur one of the Canadian masters of the light occasional essay.” - John Lennox
In 1895, McArthur married Mabel Waters.