James Mavor

{{Short description|Scottish-Canadian economist (1854–1925)}} {{for|his son, the professor of biology at Union College|James Watt Mavor}} {{Infobox person |image=File:James Mavor (1854 - 1925).jpg |caption=James Mavor (1854 - 1925) |birth_place=Stranraer, Scotland |birth_date=December 8, 1854 |death_place=Glasgow, Scotland |death_date={{death date and age|1925|10|31|1854|12|8}} |occupation=economist |alma_mater=Glasgow University }}

'''James Mavor''' (December 8, 1854 – October 31, 1925) was a Scottish-Canadian economist. He served as a Professor of Political Economy of the University of Toronto from 1892 to 1923. His influence upon Canadian economic thought is traced to as late as the 1970s. He played a key role in resettling Doukhobor religious dissidents from the Russian Empire to Canada. He was also a noted arts promoter.

==Life and career== {{More citations needed section|date=January 2022}} Mavor was born in Stranraer, Scotland, to James Mavor, a Free Church of Scotland minister and teacher, and his wife, Mary Ann Taylor Bridie. He studied in Glasgow University. After that he taught for some time in a Glasgow college and read special courses in Glasgow University and Edinburgh University. He was also an editor for ''Scottish Art Review''. He also became active in the Socialist League, chairing its Scottish district.<ref name="marwick">{{cite book |last1=Marwick |first1=W. H. |title=Short History of Labour in Scotland |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zo8EAAAAMAAJ&q=mavor |date=1967 |publisher=W & R Chambers |location=Edinburgh |page=72|isbn=978-0-9992337-2-6 }}</ref>

In 1892, upon the recommendation of University of Toronto Professor William Ashley who was leaving for Harvard University, he took Ashley's chair of Political Economy and Constitutional History, moving to Toronto with his family (including daughter Dora who would later become a major figure in Canada's theatre). After 1892, he spent most of his life in Toronto, leaving only for short trips.

In 1893, James Mavor was a founding member of the Toronto Chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi Literary Society.

At the start, he caused turmoil when he stated Canada could not serve as the only source of wheat for the British Empire as general ideology of the Empire observed it. To avoid further misunderstanding, he took the economy of Russia as his major scientific specialization. As a professor he also researched the economies of Canada, China, Korea, and Japan.

In 1898 through 1899, he became a key figure in the Doukhobor immigration to Canada. His correspondent at the time was notable Russian scientist and major Anarchist ideologist Kropotkin, at that time living in the UK, who proposed that Doukhobor peasantry, numbering several thousand people, be settled in Canada. Through several years that followed, he took a keen interest in the Doukhobor cause, siding with them in cases of conflict with Canadian authorities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Osofsky |first=Stephen |title=Peter Kropotkin |date=1979 |url=https://archive.org/details/peterkropotkin0000osof |publisher=Twayne Publishers |isbn=978-0-8057-7724-6 |location=Boston |language=English |oclc=4497420 }}</ref> Kropotkin warmly regarded Mavor as a friend and later recalled that Mavor was "a living encyclopedia of Canadian economics."<ref>{{cite web | title=Some of the Resources of Canada | url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/kropotkin-peter/1898/some-of-the-resources-of-canada.html | author=Peter Kropotkin | publisher=The Nineteenth Century | website=Marxists.org | date=March 1898 | pages=494–514 }}</ref>

As an arts activist, Mavor helped organize several Canadian art venues, such as the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum.

He published articles and statistics for the Canadian government regarding immigration, wheat production, and workers' healthcare compensation. In 1914, he published the first edition of his ''magnum opus'', ''An Economic History of Russia'', in two volumes. This publication earned him membership in the Royal Society of Canada.

He also was the founding and guiding mind of the Hart House Chess Club, now the longest active chess club in Canada.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of the Hart House Chess Club |url=https://harthousechess.com/history/ |website=Hart House Chess Club |date=13 May 2016 |access-date=30 August 2022}}</ref>

After over 30 years of teaching economy, he became professor emeritus and retired in 1923.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.library.utoronto.ca/fisher/collections/canadiana.html |title=Book Collections, Canadiana. Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto Libraries |access-date=2008-07-25 |archive-date=2008-05-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517022748/http://www.library.utoronto.ca/fisher/collections/canadiana.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

After he left, the University of Toronto for some time discontinued the tradition of extensive Russian studies he and William Ashley founded.<ref>[http://www.newsandevents.utoronto.ca/bios/02/history47.htm What helped launch Slavic studies as a growth discipline at the University of Toronto?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070820132510/http://www.newsandevents.utoronto.ca/bios/02/history47.htm |date=2007-08-20 }} at University of Toronto web site</ref>

==Death== Mavor died at the age of 71 in Glasgow, Scotland, during a trip to visit relatives.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

Mavor and his wife, [https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/KVGZ-J3M/christina-jane-watt-1850-1933 Christina Jane Gordon Balfour], had three children: Dora Mavor Moore, who co-founded the Stratford Festival, [http://www.richardgilbert.ca/achart/public%20html/articles/wwi/19wilfred%20mavor.html Brigadier-General Wilfrid Mavor, C.B.E., M.C., E.D]., a celebrated Canadian soldier, and [https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris%20arc%20397696 James Watt Mavor], a Professor of Biology, Union College, Schenectady.

His grandson is actor Mavor Moore, his great-grandson is [https://www.normanarmour.ca/aboutnorman Norman Armour] actor, director, producer, and the co-founder of [https://pushfestival.ca/ PuSh], his great-granddaughters are actresses Charlotte Moore and Tedde Moore, and his great-great-grandson is actor and music producer Noah "40" Shebib.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

==Legacy== * In honour of James Mavor, George Bernard Shaw named one of the main characters of his play ''Candida'' (1898), the "Rev. James Mavor Morell".

==Bibliography== * ''An Economic History of Russia'' (London 1914; in 2 Volumes). Russell & Russell, 1914, reissued 1925, 1965. [https://books.google.com/books?id=JVRBAAAAIAAJ this book at в google] * ''My Windows on the Street of the World'' (London, 1923; Autobiography). 2 volumes, Toronto and London: J. M. Dent & Sons, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1923. Includes chapters about William Morris, Leo Tolstoy, Peter Kropotkin, Peter Verigin. [https://books.google.com/books?id=jGJJAAAAMAAJ this book at google] * ''Niagara in Politics: A Critical Account of the Ontario Hydroelectric Commission'' (New York, 1925). E. P. Dutton & Company, 1925. 255 pages. * ''The Russian Revolution''. George Allen & Unwin, 1928. 470 pages. * ''[https://archive.org/details/appliedeconomics00mavo Applied Economics a Practical Exposition of the Science of Business].'' Original issued in series: Modern business. Canadian edition; v. 1. Alexander Hamilton Institute 1914 {{ISBN|0-665-77177-0}} * ''Hand-book of Canada.'' Publication Committee of the Local Executive of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1980. (Canada Description and travel 1868—1900) {{ISBN|0-665-02833-4}} * ''Government Telephones: The Experience of Manitoba,'' Canada. Moffat, Yard & Co., 1916. 176 страниц.

==Sources== * ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography: Volume XV, 1921—1930'' (eds. Réal Bélanger, Ramsay Cook). University of Toronto Press, Canada, 2005; {{ISBN|0-8020-9087-7}} <ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WG8pspLIukMC&pg=PA723|title=Dictionary of Canadian Biography|first=Ramsay|last=Cook|date=15 January 2005|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=9780802090874 |access-date=15 January 2022|via=Google Books}}</ref>

==See also== === Archives === There is a James Mavor fonds at Library and Archives Canada.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=James Mavor fonds |url=http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=102526&lang=eng| place=Library and Archives Canada |archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=November 16, 2022|website=}}</ref> The archival reference number is R7458.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category}} *[http://archivesfa.library.yorku.ca/fonds/ON00370-f0000351.htm James Mavor archives] held at Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, York University, Toronto, Ontario *James Mavor archival papers held at the [https://discoverarchives.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/james-mavor-fonds University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services] and [https://discoverarchives.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/james-mavor-papers Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library] * {{Internet Archive author |sname=James Mavor}} * [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/james-mavor/ The Canadian Encyclopedia]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mavor, James}} Category:Canadian art critics Category:Canadian economists Category:Canadian male non-fiction writers Category:Canadian autobiographers Category:Canadian political writers Category:1854 births Category:1925 deaths Category:People from Stranraer Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Category:20th-century Canadian historians Category:19th-century Canadian historians Category:British emigrants to Canada Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow Category:Academic staff of the University of Toronto