Fonds F1213 - Charles Avery Dunning fonds

Charles Avery Dunning was born in Croft, Leichestershire, England in 1885 and emigrated to Canada in 1902 where he worked as a farm hand near Yorkton, Saskatchewan. He became active in the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association and was appointed a Royal Commissioner by the Province of Saskatchewan in 1913 to investigate the question of agricultural credit and grain marketing in Europe. In 1916 he was elected to the Saskatchewan Legislature for the riding of Kinistino holding various positions including Provincial Treasurer (1916) and Minister of Agriculture (1918). In 1922, at the age of thirty-eight, he became the Premier of Saskatchewan and remained Premier until 1926. Appointed federal Minister of Railways and Canals by Prime Minister Mackenzie King in 1926, Dunning was subsequently elected to the House of Commons by acclamation for the riding of Regina. In 1928 Dunning was a Canadian delegate to the League of Nations and in 1929 he was appointed Minister of Finance, a position he held until the defeat of the Liberal Government in 1930. When the Liberals came to power again in 1935, Dunning resumed the position of Minister of Finance. In 1940 he was elected Chancellor of Queen's University where he remained until his death in 1958.