William Lyon Mackenzie King, 1874-1950

Canada's tenth prime minister was born in Berlin (Kitchener) on December 17, 1874. A grandson of William Lyon Mackenzie, he joined the Canadian civil service in 1900 as a specialist in labour relations. Elected to the federal parliament as Liberal member for Waterloo North in 1908, he served as minister of Labour, 1909-11, under Sir Wilfred Laurier. In 1919 he became leader of the Liberal party and prime minister in 1921. Thereafter King continued to lead the government until 1948 except for a brief interval in 1926 and the term of 1930-35. His tenure of over twenty-one years was longer than that of any other prime minister in the Commonwealth.