Background
He was born at Grand Pré,Pre, N.S., June 26, 1854.
He was born at Grand Pré,Pre, N.S., June 26, 1854.
At the age of nine he entered Acacia Villa Seminary at Horton, N.S., where he became assistant master at the age of 14, and continued his studies until 1873.
He was admitted to the bar in 1878 and thereafter practiced in Halifax. He was made a queen's counsel in 1890. In 1896 Borden was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Liberal-Conservative candidate for Halifax, was re-elected in 1900, and in 1901 became head of this party in Canada. From 1901 to 1911 he was leader of the opposition in the House.
In 1911 Borden strongly opposed the Canadian-American trade reciprocity proposals and, on the defeat of the Wilfrid Laurier administration in that year, he became prime minister of Canada and president of the Council. Borden visited Great Britain in 1912 in order to discuss naval cooperation and in the same year was made a privy councillor. On Aug. 1, 1914, he informed the British government that if war should come in Europe, Canada would support Great Britain. In 1915 he attended meetings of the British Cabinet. In 1917 he formed a Union Government of Conservatives and Liberals on a platform of compulsory military service. He was secretary of state for external affairs as well as prime minister in this administration, and the government was sustained at the polls in 1917. After the war he strongly supported representation for the British Dominions at the Paris Peace Conference, which he attended in 1919 as the chief plenipotentiary delegate of Canada. Because of impaired health, Borden resigned as prime minister in July 1920, and retired from active politics. He was chancellor of McGill University, 1918-1920, and of Queen's University, 1924-1930. In 1921-1922 he represented Canada at the Washington Disarmament Conference. Thereafter he devoted his time mainly to academic work and international affairs, although in 1928 he was president of the Crown Life Insurance Co., and in 1929 was president of Barclay's Bank (Canada). In 1930 he was president of the Canadian Historical Association, Canadian representative on the Council of the League of Nations, and chief delegate of Canada to the Assembly of the League. Two volumes of his lectures were published: Canadian Constitutional Studies (1922) and Canada in the Commonwealth (1929). His Memoirs appeared posthumously in 1938. He died in Ottawa, June 10, 1937.
Liberal
(1867-1891)
Conservative
(1891-1917, 1922-1937)
Unionist
(1917-1922)