Person

MacMillan, Cyrus, 1880-1953

1880-1953

Cyrus John MacMillan was born on September 12, 1878, in Wood Islands, Prince Edward Island and died on June 29, 1953. In Montreal in 1916, he married Margaret Eaton Brower, who attended McGill University. They had no children. MacMillan earned his B.A. in 1900 and his M.A. in 1903 from McGill. After receiving his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1909, he returned to McGill as a Lecturer in English. MacMillan served in the First World War with the 6th and 7th Canadian Siege Battery, which he helped to organize. In 1919, he was promoted to Associate Professor and was appointed Chair of the English Department in 1923. From 1940 to 1947, he was Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science. During this period, MacMillan pursued a second career as a politician. He was the Federal Minister of Fisheries in 1930, and federal M.P. for Queen's (P.E.I.) from 1940 to 1945. From 1943 to 1946, MacMillan was the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of National Defence for Air and served on numerous government committees. MacMillan was a member of the Presbyterian Church of Canada and served as the sole lay delegate to the Church of Scotland assembly in Edinburgh. He also published a book about the history of McGill called McGill and Its Story, 1821-1921, as well as volumes of Canadian folktales and studies of Canadian literature. After 1945 he was chief editorial writer for the Charlottetown Patriot, until his retirement in 1947.

Revised on July 17, 2024, by Leah Louttit-Bunker

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Macmillan