{{Short description|Canadian politician (1873–1955)}} {{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = [[The Honourable]] | name = James Horace King | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|size=100%}} | image = Honourable J.H. King portrait 1925 (F1266 it6503).jpg | alt = | caption = King, {{circa|1925}} | constituency_AM = [[Cranbrook (electoral district)|Cranbrook]] | assembly = British Columbia Legislative | term_start = 1903 | term_end = 1909 | predecessor = | successor = [[Thomas Donald Caven]] | term_start2 = 1916 | term_end2 = 1922 | predecessor2 = [[Thomas Donald Caven]] | successor2 = [[Noel Wallinger]] | riding3 = [[Kootenay East]] | parliament3 = Canadian | term_start3 = 1922 | term_end3 = 1930 | predecessor3 = [[Robert Ethelbert Beattie]] | successor3 = [[Michael Dalton McLean]] | office4 = [[Senate of Canada|Canadian Senator]] <br /> from [[List of British Columbia senators|British Columbia]] | term_start4 = June 7, 1930 | term_end4 = July 14, 1955 | birth_date = {{birth date|1873|1|18}} | birth_place = [[Chipman, New Brunswick]], Canada | death_date = {{death date and age|1955|7|14|1873|1|18}} | death_place = [[Ottawa, Ontario]], Canada | party = [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] | profession = Physician | alma_mater=[[McGill University]] ([[Doctor of Medicine|MD]]) }} '''James Horace King''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC}} (January 18, 1873 – July 14, 1955) was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] physician and [[Parliament of Canada|parliamentarian]]. ==Background== Born in Chipman, [[New Brunswick]], James King was the son of [[George Gerald King]], a businessman and Canadian politician in his own right. The elder King was a [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|Member of Parliament]] in the nineteenth century, and a [[Senate of Canada|Senator]] from 1896 until his death in 1928.
The younger King earned his [[Doctor of Medicine|MD]] from [[McGill University]] in 1895. After practicing medicine for a short period in New Brunswick, he moved to the [[Kootenays|Kootenay]] region of [[British Columbia]] in 1898 serving a large rural territory. In 1910, he attended an international medical conference in [[Budapest]], and played a leading role in establishing the [[American College of Surgeons]] in [[Chicago]], serving as a governor of the college. In 1932, he was created a [[Knight]] of Grace of the [[Venerable Order of Saint John|Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem]] for his services to medicine.
In 1903, King was elected as a [[British Columbia Liberal Party]] member of the [[British Columbia Legislative Assembly]] for the riding of [[Cranbrook (electoral district)|Cranbrook]] and was re-elected in 1907 before leaving provincial politics in 1909 to return to medicine.
A supporter of Sir [[Wilfrid Laurier]], King was a [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] candidate in the [[Riding (division)|riding]] of [[Kootenay (federal electoral district)|Kootenay]] in the [[1911 Canadian federal election|1911 federal election]] but was defeated. He returned to the provincial legislature in 1916, joining the provincial [[Cabinet (government)|cabinet]] as Minister of Public Works. He served in that portfolio until 1922 when he was offered a [[Canadian Cabinet|federal Cabinet]] position by [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]]. J.H. King became [[Minister of Public Works (Canada)|Minister of Public Works]] shortly before winning a [[by-election]] to enter the [[House of Commons of Canada]] as MP for [[Kootenay East]].
In 1926, King became Minister of Soldiers’ Civil Reestablishment and minister responsible for the Department of Health. In 1928, he became the country's first [[Minister of Pensions and National Health (Canada)|Minister of Pensions and National Health]]. He was appointed to the Senate on Prime Minister Mackenzie King's recommendation on June 7, 1930, shortly before the defeat of Mackenzie King's government.
In 1942, King returned to Cabinet as [[Leader of the Government in the Canadian Senate]]. In this capacity, he attended the June 1945 [[San Francisco Conference]] that established the [[United Nations]]. In August 1945, he was appointed [[Speaker of the Senate of Canada]] chairing sessions of the [[upper house]] until 1949. He then served as co-chairman of the joint Senate–House of Commons Committee on Old Age Security which reported in 1950. King remained a Senator until his death in 1955. He died in office, and was buried in British Columbia, at Ocean View Cemetery in Burnaby.<ref>City of Ottawa Archive; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Date Range: 1955–1956; Microfilm Number: 432</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=3893}}
{{s-start}} {{S-gov}} {{S-bef|before=[[Raoul Dandurand]]}} {{S-ttl|title=[[Leader of the Government in the Senate (Canada)|Leader of the Government in the Senate of Canada]]|years=1942–1945}} {{S-aft|after=[[Wishart McLea Robertson]]}} {{end}}
{{CA-Ministers of Veterans Affairs}} {{CA-Ministers of Public Works}} {{CA-Ministers of Labour}} {{CA-Ministers of Health}} {{CA-Leaders of the Government in the Senate}} {{Speakers of the Canadian Senate}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:King, James Horace}} [[Category:1873 births]] [[Category:1955 deaths]] [[Category:Medical doctors from British Columbia]] [[Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs]] [[Category:McGill University Faculty of Medicine alumni]] [[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia]] [[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]] [[Category:Speakers of the Senate of Canada]] [[Category:Canadian senators from British Columbia]] [[Category:BC United MLAs]] [[Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]] [[Category:20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia]] [[Category:20th-century members of the Senate of Canada]]