Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook
Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician
William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (25 May 1879 – 9 June 1964), was a Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician who was an influential figure in British media and politics of the first half of the 20th century. His base of power was the largest circulation newspaper in the world, the Daily Express, which appealed to the conservative working class with intensely patriotic news and editorials. During the Second World War, he played a major role in mobilising industrial resources as Winston Churchill's Minister of Aircraft Production.
Born in Maple, Ontario, to a Scottish-born Presbyterian minister and the daughter of a prosperous farmer, Aitken grew up in Newcastle, New Brunswick. At thirteen, he launched a school newspaper, *The Leader*, while also delivering papers and serving as a local correspondent for the *St John Daily Star*. After failing university entrance exams due to refusing Greek and Latin papers, he briefly attended law school before leaving. He worked in a shop, sold life insurance, collected debts, and managed a future Canadian prime minister’s local election campaign. In 1900, he entered finance in Halifax under John F. Stairs, becoming general manager of Royal Securities Corporation. Upon Stairs’ death in 1904, Aitken took control of the firm and moved to Montreal. He engineered numerous business deals, founding the Montreal Engineering Company and Calgary Power Company (now TransAlta). In 1910–1911, he consolidated several small cement plants into Canada Cement, controlling four-fifths of the nation’s cement production amid accusations of stock irregularities and price-gouging. He sold his shares for a substantial profit, becoming a millionaire by thirty. After a first visit to Britain in 1908, he returned in 1910 to raise capital, eventually relocating there.
- field
- Newspaper publishing, politics
- nationality
- Canadian-British
- known_for
- Owner of the Daily Express; Minister of Aircraft Production during Second World War
Lore & Background
The young Max Aitken had a gift for making money and was a millionaire by the age of 30. His business ambitions quickly exceeded opportunities in Canada, and he moved to Britain. There he befriended Andrew Bonar Law and with his support won a seat in the House of Commons at the December 1910 United Kingdom general election. A knighthood followed shortly after. During the First World War, he ran the Canadian Records office in London, and played a role in the removal of H. H. Asquith as prime minister in 1916. The resulting coalition government rewarded Aitken with a peerage and, briefly, a Cabinet post as Minister of Information. After the war, the now Lord Beaverbrook concentrated on his business interests. He built the Daily Express into the most successful mass-circulation newspaper in the world, with sales of 2.25 million copies a day across Britain. He used it to pursue personal campaigns, most notably for tariff reform and for the British Empire to become a free trade bloc. Beaverbrook supported the governments of Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain throughout the 1930s and was persuaded by Winston Churchill to serve as his Minister of Aircraft Production from May 1940. He resigned due to ill-health in 1941 but later in the war was appointed Lord Privy Seal. Beaverbrook spent his later life running his newspapers, which by then included the Evening Standard and the Sunday Express. He served as Chancellor of the University of New Brunswick and developed a reputation as a historian with his books on political and military history.
Reader's Guide
In 1912, Aitken purchased all of the grain terminals in Alberta in the expectation that an Imperial Preference tariffs would soon be enacted as law.
Did You Know?
- He was born in Maple, Ontario, Canada, in 1879, one of ten children.
- He set up a school newspaper, The Leader, at age 13.
- He was refused entry to Dalhousie University because he declined to sit Greek and Latin papers.
- He managed the successful campaign of R. B. Bennett, a future prime minister of Canada, for a place on Chatham town council.
- He founded the Calgary Power Company Limited (now TransAlta Corporation) in 1909.
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