“I am deeply touched, Violet,” King said, looking into her bird-bright eyes and thinking how little she had changed since that Trafalgar Day so many years ago. It was not the first time the person whom the spirits called a friend to us all and a remarkable woman had come to his aid financially. In the period prior to the First World War, when he was out of power and before he had gone to work for the Rockefellers, she had insisted he take a monthly income from her.
“I’ll give at once,” Markham responded cheerfully. “Ah, Rex, this will give me such pleasure. I am so worried and I think this is the time to arrange things.” Markham feared greatly she would never see her friend again.
King sensed this and told her, “My dear Violet, I have no fears about the future.”
Markham was not the only person discussing matters with the ailing Canadian leader. King George, Nehru of India, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Fraser, and Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan of Pakistan, were some of the distinguished statesmen who visited.
On Saturday, October 23 King had visits at his hotel from Nehru’s sister, Madame Pandit, and Eric Louw, the South African minister of external affairs. Two invited guests, Geraldine Cummins and her assistant Miss E.B. Gibbes, almost did not come. Cummins telephoned to warn the Canadian prime minister that she was suffering from a cold. King encouraged her to come regardless. He wanted to talk to the spirits.
Geraldine Cummins was one of the London spiritualists with whom King consulted in his pursuit of psychical research. He had contacted some of them through an influential woman and friend he had met his university days. The founder of the Victorian Order of Nurses, Lady Ishbel Aberdeen, had sought solace after the death of her husband, a former Governor General of Canada. The mediums she found employed automatic writing – going into a trance and writing down what they believed was dictated to them from the spirit world. Thrilled with this new proof of spiritual survival, King met with some of the London contacts whenever he could during the war and after.
Cummins had met King when he had come to England for the wedding of Princess Elizabeth in 1947. At the sitting, Cummins had gone into a trance, her left hand covering her closed eyes while her right hand wrote on the paper her secretary, Miss Gibbes, put in front of her. The words were dictated from her control, called “Astor.” Later, Cummins was surprised to find out that King was not a clergyman as she had thought but the prime minister of Canada. She told her assistant that he was the “greatest statesmen of our time. A man with such a record is no credulous fool.”
This year, Cummins found her client much altered, although his attractive smile, captivating charm, and spiritual integrity remained. His good-humoured face wore the cares of the invalid that she had foreseen at the previous sitting. With a serious expression in her dark brown eyes and thin face, she had warned him then, “You ought to take a holiday – at least six months.” But he only laughed, “I haven’t taken a holiday in years.” Now it was too late.
“Nowadays,” their host complained of his fatigue once his guests were comfortably seated, “statesmen have to fly about the world instead of staying at home doing constructive work directing affairs.”
Once Cummins began, she wrote what Astor said for fifty minutes. F.D.R. again urged attention be given to the Far East, warning of war in two years’ time. F.D.R. and then Sir Wilfrid encouraged him to stay in office as long as he could. You alone can manage the numerous conflicting interests in the world, he told his once young, now aged protégé.
Prime Minister King found the talks as reassuring as usual. “Remarkable,” he told Cummins, “just what I wanted.”
To himself he wondered how he would find the strength to go on. In April 1948 he would exceed twenty-one years in office and break the record set in the 1700s by Britain’s Sir Robert Walpole. Once past 7,619 days King would have held power longer than any other elected statesman in the English-speaking world. Perhaps he would plan to announce his retirement soon after, and perhaps even steer the party toward selecting St. Laurent as leader.
Laurier House, Ottawa
May 19, 1950
Father: Let Grandfather speak.
Grandfather: The doctor will show you what to do. Mother is here. Let her speak
Mother: Dear Willie it is a long time since we had a talk. Joan, I thank you for coming to see Willie each night. I want him not to be concerned about his health. He will be strong again in a short time. Let Max speak.
Max: Don’t be concerned about the morphine, you will be rid of it in a short time. Let Bella speak.
Bella: You are going to be strong again. Good night from all.
This is the last recorded seance of Rex, Joan, and friends.
July 21, 1948
Telegram to:
Mrs. James Carruthers
Moon Green
Wittersham
Kent (England)
Our friend’s condition has taken serious turn
will keep you informed.
Joan
The Farm, Kingsmere, Quebec
July 22, 1950
“Thank you,” King whispered to the nurse. He closed his eyes and one last time, went to dream.
W.L.M. King named all his dogs “Pat.” The first Pat – King’s “best little friend” – lived for 17 years and died on 14 July 1941. Pat the second was acquired in 1941 but died only 6 years later in 1947. Pat the third was acquired in the mid-40s.
Epilogue
Clipping found in King’s diary.
“The Little Dog Angel Diary” by Norah Holland from Spunyarn and Spindrift.
High up in the courts of heaven today
A little dog-angel waits
With the other angels he will not play,
But he sits alone at the gates;
“For I know that my master will come,” says he;
“And when he comes, he will call for me.”
Family memories. Bella, Isabel, Willie, and John King.
“Mother” and “Father.” Isabel and John King with William Lyon Mackenzie King.
Chronology of
William Lyon Mackenzie King
(1874-1950)
Compiled by Lynne Bowen
| KING AND HIS TIMES | CANADA AND THE WORLD |
| 1791 | |
| John Graves Simcoe becomes first governor of Upper Canada; his attempts to create an aristocracy will lead eventually to the formation
|