Victor Cavendish, the 9th Duke of Devonshire, was born when Canada was just a year old, and sworn in as Governor General in 1916, halfway through World War I.
Appointed by King George V, the Duke of Devonshire held the post from 1916 to 1921. Prime Minister Robert Borden was displeased because he had not been consulted about the choice. Even though the Sovreign had no legal obligation to consult the Canadian prime minister on this matter, it has already become the accepted practice.
The Duke's term was a time of social upheaval. Shortly after his arrival in Canada, Parliament introduced conscription. The crisis that followed led to a serious rift between English and French Canadians.
During and after WWI, Canadian women were first given the right to vote.The Military Voters Act of 1917 granted suffrage to nurses and women in the armed forces, and the Wartime Election Act extended this right to women whose husbands, fathers, or sons were serving overseas. Finally, in 1919, all women over the age of 21 gained the right to vote. During the war, the Duchess of Devonshire opened a hospital for Canadian soldiers at Buxton.
When the war was over, the veterans flooded back to Canada only to find high inflation and few jobs. Seeing how capitalists had profited from the war at their expense, returned soldiers who were now working men began to demand better wages and working conditions as well as jobs. In May of 1919, the Winnipeg building and metal workers struck for higher wages, and two weeks later the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council called for a general strike.
A landowner in England, the Duke was very interested in farming and other horticultural matters. He talked to farmers and visited agricultural fairs around Canada and sugaring-off parties in the Gatineau hills. The Duchess of Devonshire (who was the daughter of a previous governor general, Lord Lansdowne) was the first to plant a ceremonial tree (a sugar maple) in the grounds of Rideau Hall.
Having grown up in Canada, the Duchess enjoyed skating and tobogganing, and the Devonshires also developed the gardens of the governor general's official residence and added tennis courts. The Duke particularly enjoyed the time the couple spent in the Quebec residence at La Citadelle.
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