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| <tab>From 1895 to 1902, he taught at Upper Canada College, Toronto, where he became a friend of Stephen Leacock, who at this time was also a teacher at Upper Canada College. Peacock left Upper Canada College in 1902, a little past the age of 30, but in effect starting anew in life, to begin a business career as secretary to a leading businessman, E.R. Wood. Thereafter followed one of the most brilliant careers of any Canadian of his time. From 1907 he managed the affairs in England of Dominion Securities. In 1909 he settled permanently in England . There he became deeply entrenched in the structures of business and power. Peacock was a director of the Bank of England (1921-1924, 1929-1946), a director of Barings Bank (1924-1954), receiver general of the Duchy of Cornwall (1929-1961), chairman of the finance committee and treasurer of the King Edward’s Hospital Fund for London, a Rhodes trustee, and chairman of trustees of the Imperial War Graves Commission, and a director of many companies including Brazilian Traction, the CPR and the Hudson’s Bay Co. He was chairman of a committee (1929-1930) which investigated the economic implications of an English Channel tunnel and issued a report as one of the government Blue Books. | <tab>From 1895 to 1902, he taught at Upper Canada College, Toronto, where he became a friend of Stephen Leacock, who at this time was also a teacher at Upper Canada College. Peacock left Upper Canada College in 1902, a little past the age of 30, but in effect starting anew in life, to begin a business career as secretary to a leading businessman, E.R. Wood. Thereafter followed one of the most brilliant careers of any Canadian of his time. From 1907 he managed the affairs in England of Dominion Securities. In 1909 he settled permanently in England . There he became deeply entrenched in the structures of business and power. Peacock was a director of the Bank of England (1921-1924, 1929-1946), a director of Barings Bank (1924-1954), receiver general of the Duchy of Cornwall (1929-1961), chairman of the finance committee and treasurer of the King Edward’s Hospital Fund for London, a Rhodes trustee, and chairman of trustees of the Imperial War Graves Commission, and a director of many companies including Brazilian Traction, the CPR and the Hudson’s Bay Co. He was chairman of a committee (1929-1930) which investigated the economic implications of an English Channel tunnel and issued a report as one of the government Blue Books. |
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| <tab>Peacock was intimately involved in the financial side of the operations that led to the formation of the 1931 Coalition government in Britain. After an audience and dinner with King George V, “Peacock drove the Prime Minister [Ramsay MacDonald–for him, see also C. W. Gordon] back to Downing Street, entering by the back gate in order to avoid the Press, and encouraged acceptance of the King’s wish as the opposition leaders arrived for preliminary discussions.” (Orbell) Peacock was again intimately involved in the abdication of Edward VIII in 1937. He was one of the small group of people associated with Edward VIII who attended the famous dinner at Fort Belvedere, the king’s home, two days before the abdication. It was on this occasion that Edward VIII gave Peacock the delicate assignment, as described in the ex-king’s autobiography, //A King’s Story//, of telling Prime Minister Baldwin that the king did not wish the prime minister to stay the night at Fort Belvedere. Peacock was one of the people who accompanied Edward VIII when he signed the abdication documents. Peacock was active in the early years of World War II in helping the British government dispose of capital assets in the United States to help finance the war effort. | <tab>Peacock was intimately involved in the financial side of the operations that led to the formation of the 1931 Coalition government in Britain. After an audience and dinner with King George V, “Peacock drove the Prime Minister [Ramsay MacDonald–for him, see also [[gordon_charles_william|C. W. Gordon]] ] back to Downing Street, entering by the back gate in order to avoid the Press, and encouraged acceptance of the King’s wish as the opposition leaders arrived for preliminary discussions.” (Orbell) Peacock was again intimately involved in the abdication of Edward VIII in 1937. He was one of the small group of people associated with Edward VIII who attended the famous dinner at Fort Belvedere, the king’s home, two days before the abdication. It was on this occasion that Edward VIII gave Peacock the delicate assignment, as described in the ex-king’s autobiography, //A King’s Story//, of telling Prime Minister Baldwin that the king did not wish the prime minister to stay the night at Fort Belvedere. Peacock was one of the people who accompanied Edward VIII when he signed the abdication documents. Peacock was active in the early years of World War II in helping the British government dispose of capital assets in the United States to help finance the war effort. |
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| <tab>He was knighted (GCVO) in 1934. (GCVO means Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.) In 1912 he married Katherine Coates (d. 1948) of Ottawa. (two adopted daughters) Sir Edward Peacock died in a London hospital. In the later years of his life, he was living during the weekdays in a suite at the Savoy Hotel, London, while using his house as Ascot on the weekends. He was noted to be a man of fine bearing and impressive appearance. The //Dictionary of National Biography// (//DNB//) describes him as having “a first-class brain” but other sources emphasize his clarity of mind and his wisdom rather than his cleverness. (Orbell) In his Upper Canada College years he wrote //Canada: a Descriptive Textbook// (1900) and several articles published in the //Queen’s Quarterly//. His biographer in the //Dictionary of Business Biography// notes that after leaving teaching “he did not publish.” He is described (//DNB//) as a Presbyterian and Mason. It is remarkable that two men born at the tiny crossroads settlement of St. Elmo, Peacock and Ralph Connor, achieved the distinction of lives in the British //DNB// and its successor the //Oxford Dictionary of National Biography//. And they both had London //Times// obituaries. | <tab>He was knighted (GCVO) in 1934. (GCVO means Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.) In 1912 he married Katherine Coates (d. 1948) of Ottawa. (two adopted daughters) Sir Edward Peacock died in a London hospital. In the later years of his life, he was living during the weekdays in a suite at the Savoy Hotel, London, while using his house as Ascot on the weekends. He was noted to be a man of fine bearing and impressive appearance. The //Dictionary of National Biography// (//DNB//) describes him as having “a first-class brain” but other sources emphasize his clarity of mind and his wisdom rather than his cleverness. (Orbell) In his Upper Canada College years he wrote //Canada: a Descriptive Textbook// (1900) and several articles published in the //Queen’s Quarterly//. His biographer in the //Dictionary of Business Biography// notes that after leaving teaching “he did not publish.” He is described (//DNB//) as a Presbyterian and Mason. It is remarkable that two men born at the tiny crossroads settlement of St. Elmo, Peacock and Ralph Connor, achieved the distinction of lives in the British //DNB// and its successor the //Oxford Dictionary of National Biography//. And they both had London //Times// obituaries. |
