9th Newfoundland Prime Minister. A member of the Liberal-Conservative Progressive Party and later the United Newfoundland Party, he served in this position briefly from August 1928 until November 1928 and again from June 1932 until February 1934. Born in Stranmillis, Belfast, Northern Ireland, he received his education at the Methodist College in Belfast. In 1886 he emigrated to St. John's Newfoundland to work at his uncle's Colonial Cordage Company that made ropes, cables, and nets for the fishing industry and by 1922 he was its vice-president and managing director. In 1924 he entered politics when he was appointed to the Legislative Council of Newfoundland and became leader of the Liberal-Conservative Progressive Party. In August 1928 Prime Minister Walter Stanley Moore retired and he stepped in to take his place. However, it was short-lived as his Party lost to the Liberal Party in the 1928 general election and Sir Richard Squires became Prime Minister. He then formed the United Newfoundland Party and when the Great Depression brought a severe economic crisis to Newfoundland, coupled with corruption in the current government, his Party won the June 1932 election and he became Prime Minister again. However, his government was unable to deal with the economic crisis and he proposed a partial default on Newfoundland's debts, which was agreed to by England and Canada in exchange of an Imperial Royal Commission to determine Its future. The Commission recommended the suspension of the current government and the institution of an appointed Commission of Government to rule instead. In February 1934 he stepped down as Prime Minister when the government was abolished and he was appointed to the newly established Commission of Government that governed Newfoundland until 1949, when it became Canada's 10th province. Additionally, he served as Commissioner for Home Affairs and Education for the new Commission as well as its Vice-Chairman until his death from a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 63.