Norman McLeod Rogers (July 25, 1894 – June 10, 1940) was a Canadian lawyer and statesman. He served as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Kingston,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada and as a cabinet minister in the government of Prime Minister

William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...

. He was also an early biographer of King. Rogers was born in Amherst,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

and served in the military during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was educated at

Acadia University Acadia University is a public, predominantly undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some graduate programs at the master's level and one at the doctoral level. The enabling legislation consists of the Acadia ...

and in 1919 he was elected a Rhodes Scholar. He went to

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...

(

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

), where he was awarded a

BA Honours BA, Ba, or ba may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Bangladesh Army * Bibliotheca Alexandrina, an Egyptian library and cultural center * Boeing (NYSE stock symbol BA) * Booksellers Association of the UK and Ireland * Boston Acoustics, an ...

( MA) degree in Modern History, the B.Litt., and the BCL. Rogers was private secretary to King from 1927 to 1929, then worked as a professor at Queen's University in Kingston. He was elected to the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

in 1935, and served under King as

Minister of Labour Minister of Labour (in British English) or Labor (in American English) is typically a cabinet-level position with portfolio responsibility for setting national labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, traini ...

until 1939, and then Minister of National Defence from 1939 until his death in 1940. KingAircraftInspection1940

Rogers died in a plane crash on June 10, 1940 near Newtonville,

, while en route from Ottawa to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

for a speaking engagement. On the day National Defence Minister Rogers died, Canada declared war on

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Prime Minister King took the death of Rogers extremely hard. Rogers was a key Cabinet minister, and close advisor, and Canada was in the midst of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The two men were friendly on a personal basis, and King may have been grooming Rogers to become his successor as prime minister.''Canada and the Age of Conflict'', volume 2, 1981, by

C. P. Stacey Colonel (Canada), Colonel Charles Perry Stacey (30 July 1906 – 17 November 1989) was a Canadian historian and university professor. He served as the official historian of the Canadian Army in the Second World War and published extensively o ...

Kingston/Norman Rogers Airport Kingston Airport , also known as Norman Rogers Airport, is a regional airport located west of the core of Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The airport is named after former MP Norman McLeod Rogers (Kingston City 1935–1940), Minister of Labour a ...

is named in his honour, as is a street in Kingston. A

Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; french: links=no, Garde côtière canadienne, GCC) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues ...

icebreaker was named after him; it has since been sold to Chile and renamed '' Contraalmirante Oscar Viel Toro''.

Bibliography

*W. A. M., 'Obituary: Norman McLeod Rogers, 1894–1940', ''Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne d'Economique et de Science politique'', vol. 6, no. 3 (August, 1940), pp. 476–478

References

External links

Biography at Collections Canada
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Norman Macleod 1894 births 1940 deaths Canadian military personnel from Nova Scotia People from Amherst, Nova Scotia Acadia University alumni Alumni of University College, Oxford Canadian Rhodes Scholars Liberal Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Queen's University at Kingston faculty Accidental deaths in Ontario Canadian people of World War II Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Canada Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1940 20th-century Canadian lawyers Canadian Expeditionary Force officers Canadian military personnel of World War I