=Edwards, John Wesley, B.A., M.D., C.M., M.P.=, son of George Edwards of the County of Norfolk, England, and Elizabeth Jane Lyon, of the County of Frontenac, Ont., the latter being of U.E. Loyalist stock and among the first settlers in Frontenac. Born in the County of Frontenac May 25, 1865, and educated at the Sydenham High School, Ottawa, Normal School and Queen’s University, Kingston; graduated from the latter in Arts and Medicine in the year 1900. Married August 12, 1890, to Hester Jane Purdy, daughter of Robert G. Purdy, and is the father of the following children: Edna, John Worden, Sadie, Evelyn, and Elizabeth. Before graduating in medicine the subject of this sketch taught school for several years, and was County Clerk of Frontenac from 1899 to 1909, and Gaol Surgeon of the County Gaol at Kingston from 1907 to 1909. First elected to the House of Commons for Frontenac County in the general elections of 1908 by a majority of 421, re-elected at the general election of 1911 by a majority of 851, and again returned in the war time election of 1917 by a majority of nearly 2,000. Doctor Edwards is regarded as one of the best informed and energetic of the Conservative members of the House of Commons, and was selected as one of the Liberal-Conservative whips for Ontario in the Session of 1911 and 1912. He is a member of the Executive of the Canadian Order of Chosen Friends, and for the past three-and-a-half years has been the Executive Head of that Order. He is a prominent Orangeman, being Deputy Grand Master for Ontario East. In religion he is a Methodist.
=Beith, Hon. Robert= (Bowmanville, Ont.), was born on May 17, 1843, of Scotch parentage, and is the son of Alexander Beith and Catharine McTaggart, of Argyllshire, Scotland, who migrated to Bowmanville many years ago. He was educated at the public and private schools of that town and later took a commercial course at Day’s College, Toronto. After receiving his education he started business life as a farmer, later becoming one of the largest stock breeders in Ontario, and has imported much of the finest breeding stock in the country during the past thirty-five years. As a citizen and public man he is held in the highest esteem, and has received the highest honors to be had from his home town and surrounding localities. Having ambitions other than business, he drifted into public life, and received the nomination as the Liberal candidate for the House of Commons for West Durham in 1891 and was elected; was re-elected in 1896, and defeated in 1900. In the by-election of 1902 he was again elected, and retained his seat up to 1904, when he voluntarily retired. West Durham has been the scene of many hard fought political battles, and at times was contested by men high up in the ranks of both political parties, brought in from outside places, among whom were the late Hon. Edward Blake and Mr. George Tate Blackstock, one of the most learned legal lights in Canada. It has always been conceded that Robert Beith was the one man who could win West Durham for the Liberal Party. On January 15, 1907, he was summoned to the Senate by Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and is recognized as an able Senator. He is a bachelor, and in religion a Presbyterian. On all occasions, during the world-wide war, he was ready to help Canada do her share, and contributed in many ways that will never be known to the public at large, in helping the Motherland and her Allies to keep flying the flags that stand for freedom against Prussianism.