George Perry Graham

George Perry Graham, PC (March 31, 1859 – January 1, 1943) was a journalist, editor and politician in Ontario, Canada.

Appointed byWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King

Preceded byJohn Wesley Brien

Succeeded byEccles James Gott

Preceded byThomas Andrew Low

Quick facts The Right HonourablePC, Senator for Eganville, Ontario ...

The Right Honourable George Perry Graham PC
Graham in 1922
Senator for Eganville, Ontario
In office December 20, 1926 – January 1, 1943
Appointed by	William Lyon Mackenzie King
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Essex South
In office December 6, 1921 – October 28, 1925
Preceded by	John Wesley Brien
Succeeded by	Eccles James Gott
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Renfrew South
In office February 2, 1912 – December 16, 1917
Preceded by	Thomas Andrew Low
Succeeded by	Isaac Ellis Pedlow
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Brockville
In office September 18, 1907 – September 20, 1911
Preceded by	Daniel Derbyshire
Succeeded by	John Webster
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Brockville
In office March 1, 1898 – September 5, 1907
Preceded by	George Augustus Dana
Succeeded by	Albert Edward Donovan
Constituency	Brockville
Personal details
Born	(1859-03-31)March 31, 1859 Eganville, Canada West
Died	January 1, 1943(1943-01-01) (aged 83) Brockville, Ontario
Party	Liberal
Other political affiliations	Ontario Liberal Party

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In the 1898 Ontario provincial election, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for Brockville, and re-elected in 1902 and 1905. In 1904, he was appointed to the cabinet as Provincial Secretary by Premier George William Ross and served in that position until the Ross government lost the election of 1905.

Graham was unanimously elected leader of the Ontario Liberal Party by the party's caucus on January 25, 1907, following the resignation of George William Ross.^[1][2] On August 30, 1907, Graham was appointed Minister of Railways and Canals by Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier^[3] and resigned as both leader and MPP for Brockville in September.^[4]

Ross won the Brockville seat in the House of Commons of Canada in a by-election in 1907. He was defeated in the 1911 federal election that brought Robert Borden's Conservatives to power, but returned to the House of Commons in a 1912 by-election. He did not run in the 1917 election, but then was elected in Essex South in 1921.

In 1921, he served in a number of defence portfolios (Minister of Militia and Defence and Minister of the Naval Service from 1921 to 1922 and then as Minister of Defence from January 1 to April 27, 1923) in the first cabinet of William Lyon Mackenzie King. He lost his seat in the 1925 federal election, but was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 1926, and sat in that body until his death in 1943. He was appointed as a member of the King's Privy Council for Canada in 1907^[5] and as a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 1925.^[6]