John Joseph McGee (August 6, 1845 – April 10, 1927) was

Clerk of the Privy Council of Canada The clerk of the Privy Council () is the professional head of the Public Service of Canada. As the Deputy minister (Canada), deputy minister for the Privy Council Office (Canada), Privy Council Office (the Prime Minister of Canada, prime minister ...

from May 20, 1882 to May 5, 1907 and is the longest-serving occupant of the position. Born in

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, McGee immigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in 1863 at the request of his half-brother D'Arcy McGee. He finished his education at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

and joined the civil service in 1879 as a first class clerk in the Department of the Interior. He became Assistant Clerk of the Queen's Privy Council in 1880 and became Clerk of the Privy Council two years later.

Personal life

McGee married Elizabeth Crotty and the couple had nine children, six sons (Charles, D'Arcy, Frank, James, John Jr. and Walter) and three daughters, (Katharine, Lillian and May). Sons

Frank Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curr ...

and

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

achieved prominence in

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

and other sports. D'Arcy became a prominent lawyer in Ottawa. Charles, Frank, John and Walter all served in the Canadian army in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Charles and Frank died serving for Canada. James died in 1904 of a horse-riding accident.

References

External links

Clerk of the Privy Council profile

Clerks of the Privy Council (Canada) Irish emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec McGill University alumni People from County Wexford 1845 births 1927 deaths Immigrants to the Province of Canada McGee family {{Canada-gov-bio-stub