Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook

Lore & Background

Aitken was born in Maple, Ontario, one of ten children of a Scottish-born Presbyterian minister. The family moved to Newcastle, New Brunswick, where at age 13 he started a school newspaper. He took entrance exams for Dalhousie University but was refused entry after declining Greek and Latin papers; he briefly attended King's College Law School. He worked in a shop, sold life insurance, collected debts, and trained in a law office. He sold his shares for a large profit. The resulting coalition government rewarded him with a peerage and a brief Cabinet post as Minister of Information. After the war, he built the Daily Express into the world's most successful mass-circulation newspaper, with sales of 2.25 million copies daily. He used it to campaign for tariff reform and a British Empire free trade bloc. Later in the war he was appointed Lord Privy Seal. In later life he ran his newspapers (including the Evening Standard and Sunday Express), served as Chancellor of the University of New Brunswick, and wrote books on political and military history.

Reader's Guide

Beaverbrook's significance lies in his dual influence as a press baron and a wartime administrator. As owner of the Daily Express, he commanded the largest circulation newspaper in the world, using it to advance personal political campaigns for tariff reform and imperial free trade. His newspaper appealed to the conservative working class with intensely patriotic content, making him a powerful shaper of public opinion. Though his business methods attracted criticism, particularly regarding the consolidation of Canada Cement, his legacy endures as a figure who merged media power with political action, leaving a mark on both British journalism and wartime industrial policy.

Did You Know?

• He was a millionaire by age 30.
• He founded the Calgary Power Company Limited, now TransAlta Corporation.
• He served as Chancellor of the University of New Brunswick.