Sir William Mulock (1843–1944) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, educator, politician, judge, and philanthropist. This “Grand Old Man of Canada” played a key role in shaping the nation’s postal system, labor policies, and higher education.
Born in Bond Head, Canada West (now Ontario,) Mulock studied law at the University of Toronto and was called to the bar in 1867. He built a successful legal career before entering politics in 1882 as a Liberal Member of Parliament for York North, serving until 1905. As Postmaster General (1896–1905,) he introduced the Imperial Penny Post, lowering postage rates within the British Empire. He also helped establish Canada’s first transpacific cable and funded Marconi’s transatlantic radio link.
In 1900, Mulock founded the Canadian Department of Labour, appointing William Lyon Mackenzie King as its first Deputy Minister. He later chaired the 1905 parliamentary inquiry into telephones, advocating for government regulation of telecommunications.
Mulock served as Chief Justice of Ontario (1923–36) and briefly as Acting Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (1931–32.) He was instrumental in federating denominational colleges into the University of Toronto, where he was vice-chancellor (1881–1900) and later chancellor (1924–44.) Robert E. Babe’s Sir William Mulock: A Short Biography (2013) explores his political and legal impact, while J. Castell Hopkins’Life and Work of Sir William Mulock: A Chronicle of Fifty Years of Service (1905) provides historical insights into his career.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by William Mulock
The best of life is always ahead, always further on.
—William Mulock
Topics: Life
The man who does his work, any work, conscientiously, must always be in one sense a great man.
—William Mulock
Topics: Greatness
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