Robert Mayhew

{{Short description|Canadian politician}} {{for|the curler|Robert Mayhew (curler)}} {{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name=Robert Mayhew | image= | image_size= | caption= | birth_date={{birth date|1880|10|13}} | birth_place=Cobden, Ontario, Canada | death_date={{death date and age|1971|07|28|1880|10|13}} | death_place= | spouse= | parliament=Canadian | riding=Victoria | term_start=1937 | term_end=1953 | predecessor=Simon Fraser Tolmie | successor=Francis Fairey | profession=businessman | party=Liberal | footnotes= | predecessor2= | successor2= | website= | cabinet=Minister of Fisheries (1948–1952) | portfolio=Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance (1945–1948) }} '''Robert Wellington Mayhew''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC}} (October 13, 1880 – July 28, 1971) was a Canadian politician and diplomat.

Born in Cobden, Ontario, the son of Charles Mayhew and Sarah Dunlop Mayhew, he founded the Sidney Roofing and Paper Co. Ltd. in 1912 which became one of Victoria's largest businesses.<ref name=Victoria>{{cite web|url=http://www.city.victoria.bc.ca/archives/archives_reffrdm.shtml|title=Freedom of the City|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20011224175836/http://www.city.victoria.bc.ca/archives/archives_reffrdm.shtml|archivedate=2001-12-24}}</ref>

He was elected to the House of Commons of Canada for the riding of Victoria in a 1937 by-election. A Liberal, he was re-elected in 1940, 1945, and 1949. From 1945 to 1948, he was the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Finance. From 1948 to 1952, he was the Minister of Fisheries. From 1952 to 1954, he was the first Canadian Ambassador to Japan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.international.gc.ca/department/history/hplSearch_results.asp?frm=post&lngId=1&cntryid=98|title=Heads of Post List}}</ref>

In 1951, in San Francisco, along with Lester B. Pearson, he signed, on behalf of Canada, the Peace Treaty with Japan.

In 1966, he was awarded the City of Victoria's Freedom of the city, the highest award given by the city, for "eminent public service".<ref name="Victoria"/>

He married Grace Logan in 1908 and had three children. His only daughter, Jean Edwards Mayhew, married to James Alexander Lawrason, died January 5, 2006, in Peterborough, Ontario.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.obitsforlife.com/obituary/109654/LAWRASON-Jean-Edwards.php |title=Lawrason, Jean Edwards |work=Obits For Life}}</ref> His son Alan married Canadian sculptor Elza Mayhew; he died in 1943 while serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force when his plane went down in a hurricane.<ref>{{CWGC|id=1815549|name=Mayhew, Charles Alan|access-date=18 November 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://uvac.uvic.ca/gallery/spreitz/biography/elza-mayhew/ |title=Elza Mayhew (1916-2004) |date=7 March 2013 |publisher=University of Victoria}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=9087}} *[http://voyager.library.uvic.ca/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=2020457 Robert Wellington Mayhew fonds] at University of Victoria, Special Collections *[http://104bridgestreet.wordpress.com/2011/07/20/a-case-of-mistaken-identity/ Robert Mayhew shot and killed a man]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayhew, Robert}} Category:1880 births Category:1971 deaths Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Category:People from Renfrew County Category:Ambassadors of Canada to Japan Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada