Baron William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Lord Beaverbrook

1879 - 1964  (85 years)

• Name	William Maxwell Aitken
  Prefix	Baron
  Suffix	1st Lord Beaverbrook
  Born	26 May 1879	Maple, Vaughan, Ontario, Canada   [1, 2]
  Gender	Male
  Residence	1924	76 Hurlingham Road, Fulham, London, England   [3]
  Emigration	2 Aug 1924	London, England   [4]
  	Departed on board the Empress of France for Quebec, Canada
  Immigration	3 Aug 1926	New York, New York, USA
  	Departed Southampton, England
  Residence	1927	76 Hurlingham Road, Fulham, London, England   [3]
  Residence	1930	Stornoway House, 13 Clevelnad Road, St James, London, England   [3]
  	Also had a residence at Warren Tower, Cheveley, Cambridgeshire
  Residence	29 Jul 1931	29 Bury Street, St James, London, England   [5]
  	Departed Southampton for Quebec, Canada onboeard the "Empress of Britain"
  Residence	1933	13 Cleveland Row, Westminster, London, England   [3]
  Occupation	1 Mar 1935  [5]
  	journalist
  	Departed Rio de Janiero for Southampton onboard the Cap Arcona
  Residence	1 Mar 1935	Stormway House, Clevland Row, London, England   [5]
  Residence	1938	Cherkley, Leatherhead, Surrey, England   [3]
  Immigration	30 Mar 1947	Miami, Florida, USA   [4]
  	Arrived onboard aircraft CF-BKE from Nassau, Bahamas
  Died	9 Jun 1964	Cherkley Court, Leatherhead, Surrey, England   [1, 6]
  Cremated	14 Jun 1964	England   [1]
  Occupation	Newspaper Proproetor  [1]
  _UID	4DBF67D9497545C88015BCCF9FD64BC9C038
  Person ID	I7925	My Big Tree
  Last Modified	2 Aug 2022

  
  

  Father	Reverend William Cuthbert Aitken,   b. 28 Feb 1834, Torphichen, West Lothian, Scotland ,   d. 13 Dec 1913, Newcastle, Northumberland, New Brunswick, Canada  (Age 79 years)
  Mother	Jane Noble,   b. 8 May 1846, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 6 Aug 1927, Newcastle, Northumberland, England  (Age 81 years)
  Married	8 May 1867	Vaughan, York, Ontatio, Canada
  	Name Jane Noble Spouse Rev. William Aitken Mother Sarah Macquarry Father Joseph Birth 1846 - Vaughan Township Marriage 8 May 1867 - York Residence Vaughan Township
  Family ID	F2605	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Lady Gladys Henderson Drury,   b. 15 Feb 1885, Canada ,   d. 1 Dec 1927, London, England  (Age 42 years)
  Married	29 Jan 1906	Garrison Chapel, Halifax, Canada   [1]
  Children	1. Hon Janet Gladys Aitken,   b. 9 Jul 1908, Montreal, Quebec, Canada ,   d. 18 Nov 1988, Ewhurst, Surrey. England  (Age 80 years)   2. Sir John William Maxwell Aitken, 2nd Baron Beaverbrook,   b. 15 Feb 1910, Montreal, Quebec, Canada ,   d. 30 Apr 1985, Westminster, London, England  (Age 75 years)   3. Honourable Peter Rudyard Aitken,   b. 22 Mar 1912, London, England ,   d. 4 Aug 1947, Hotel Dakker, 32 Skepparegatten, Stockholm, Sweden  (Age 35 years)
  Last Modified	31 Dec 2007
  Family ID	F2942	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 2	Marcia Anastasia Christoforides,   b. 27 Jul 1909, 15 Queens Road, Wimbledon, Surrey, England ,   d. 28 Oct 1994, Surrey, England  (Age 85 years)
  Married	2 Jun 1963	Surrey, England   [1]
  Last Modified	21 Jun 2012
  Family ID	F2944	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Rahno was asthmatic, as was her brother, William Thomas Barton Aitken, and many of the older folk at Torphichen, always maintained that Max was born in Torphichen. The birth was supposed to have taken place when William and Jane were home on leave. However the records show that Max was born in Canada. In later life Max described himself as "conspicuously naughty and rather idle boy." He along with the other children in Newcastle, attended Harkins Academy. On Sundays Max pumped the pipe organ at the church, for a payment of 25 cents per week. He got the sack after falling asleep during a church service. (It was probably this memory that caused him to install an automatic pump in the pipe organ he donated to the church.) At about the age of 13, in 1893 he produced his first paper, "The Leader", which he sold for 1 cent a copy. This was closed when his father found him working at 2.00 a.m. Sunday morning. He became a correspondent for the Saint John Sun. When he was 16 he was sent to sit the entrance exam for Dalhousie University at Halifax. Because of having to learn Greek or Latin he did not complete the entrance. The thought of having to learn a dead language repulsed him. Instead of going to university he went to work in a drug store. There he met an important customer, Mr Sinclair. Mr Sinclair helped financially to allow Max to study law. Max repaid him before he made his millions. By the time he made his money, Mr Sinclair had died, Max created an Ice Rink for the young people of Newcastle and called it the Edward Sinclair Ice Rink in memory of his benefactor. Max joined the law office of Mr Bennett later the Prime Minister of Canada. Also dabbling in stocks and shares he became a successful businessman eventually moving into newspaper publishing. On 28 Dec 1905 the announcement of his engagement was published in the Montreal papers. Typical of the haste in which Max worked he was to be married on 29 Jan 1906, to Gladys Drury, "Gladys Drury, a girl universally liked and universally thought beautiful." She was very young being 18 to his 26. The wedding of Willaim and Gladys was reported in the "Halifax Morning Chronicle."The ceremony was a very quiet wedding which was attended by Max's mother, his brother Traven and 43 other guests." After making a fortune in Canada he moved to England and became a newspaper owner. He was the founder of The Sunday Express and owner of Beaverbrook Newspapers. Moving into politics in England he became a Member of Parliament for Ashton Under Lyne (1910-1916). He had made his home at Cherkley, near Leatherhead, Surrey. In 1911 he was knighted, much against the wishes of George V, becoming Sir Max Aitken. 1915 saw him with the Canadian Expeditionary Force as "Eye Witness", the Canadian Government Representative at the Front (1916). Wrote the book "Canada in Flanders" which went into its 13th print in 1916. Created a Baronet in 1916 and in 1917 became the first Baron Beaverbrook. He held various cabinet posts and during WWII he was Minister for Aircraft Production. He was a philanderer as well as a philanthropist and could be a proper tyrant in his dealings with people. His marriage was not always a smooth one. Despite his proffessed love of Gladys he had many mistresses,Tallulah Bankhead actress, Rebecca West author of Sunflower, Mrs Diana Cooper wife of a fellow cabinet minister and others. Some he had affairs with over many years but he could not even be faithfull to them as he had other affairs at the same time. Principal amongst his mistresses was Mrs Jean Norton. In 1925 he installed Jean Norton in a house on his Cherkley Court estate. She remained as his principle mistress until 1945. In 1927 Gladys was very ill with a brain tumour. She was then residing at Stornaway House, Max's London residence. Janet, their daughter, convinced him of the seriousness of her mother's illness. And so Max returned to London, from the south of France, where Max was living with Jean Norton. He arrived in time for his wife's death. True to his hyprocrisy, he wandering the hallways of Stornaway House wringing his hands and proclaiming "I have lost my harbour". Mrs Norton took over his wife's duties after Gladys died. When Mrs Norton died in 1945 again he was found wringing his hands and this time proclaiming "I have lost my moorings". He was a multi millionaire making most of his money from newspapers. As a newspaper mogul he was able to organize the British news media to impose a news blackout on the future King Edward VIII and Mrs Wallis Simpson's affair. Max celebrated his 85th birthday by having a party for 650 people, all men. By this time he was finding it absolute agony to walk being taken everywhere in a wheelchair, but on this occasion he walked to the party and then gave a brilliant speech. Two weeks later he died. He was often accused of some shonky deals, especially in his younger days. He always maintained he was born in Canada so that after he died there would be a certain tax saving. Max died on 9 Jun 1964, at Leatherhead, SRY. England, and was cremated on 14 Jun 1964, in England and the ashes taken back to Canada. The Town Council of Newcastle wanted his ashes to be buried in the town square but he thought the pigeons would poop on him so before he died he had a cairn erected, where his ashes would be interred. There was a house blocking the view from the cairn up the Miramachi River. So he purchased the house and had it demolished. When his ashes were interred in the cairn he had, at last, his view of the river. Beaverbrook was determined not to leave any of his money to the government so if he could not take it with him he left his money to various charitable trusts, to minimise death duties. No money was left to his relatives but he did leave them shares in various businesses.

  
  

• Sources

  [S77] Terry Stewart (Reliability: 3). [S13] Birth Cert (Reliability: 4). [S228] Electoral Roll (Reliability: 4). [S62] Passenger Manifest (Reliability: 4). [S62] Passenger Manifest (Reliability: 3). [S225] Probate Record (Reliability: 4).