William Mulock

William Mulock

Sir William Mulock, PC, KCMG, MP, QC, LL.D (January 19, 1843 – October 1, 1944) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, educator, farmer, politician, judge, and philanthropist.

He served as vice-chancellor of the University of Toronto from 1881 to 1900, negotiating the federation of denominational colleges and professional schools into a modern university.

He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Liberal Member of Parliament and served from 1882 to 1905. Sir Wilfrid Laurier appointed him to the Canadian Cabinet as Postmaster General from 1896 to 1905. In 1900, Mulock established the Department of Labour, bringing William Lyon Mackenzie King into public life as his Deputy Minister.

He initiated the final agreement for a transpacific cable linking Canada to Australia and New Zealand, and funded Marconi to establish the first transatlantic radio link from North America to Europe. In 1905 he chaired the parliamentary inquiry into telephones that led to regulation of Canadian telecommunications, and he participated in the negotiations that led to the creation of the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

He was Chief Justice of the Exchequer Division of the Supreme Court of Ontario from 1905 until appointed by King in 1923 as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario, a position he held until 1936. From 1931 to 1932, he served as the acting Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.

Mulock was extremely active in both business and the community, being involved in the foundation of organizations as diverse as the Toronto-Dominion Bank, the Toronto Star, Toronto Wellesley Hospital, and Canada's first national peace organization. In later life he was known as the "Grand Old Man" of Canada.