William Joseph Parnell MacMillan

MACMILLAN, O.B.E., K.C.S.G., Q.C., M.D. (C.M.), F.R.C.S., F.I.C.S., FAC.S., LM.C.C., S.G., HONOURABLE WILLIAM JOSEPH PARNELL, physician and surgeon; b. 24 March 1881 in Clermont, son of Joseph MacMillan and Mary L. Hogan; m. first 12 January 1909 Mary B. Macdonald, of Boston; m. secondly 3 May 1922 Letitia Macdonald (nee Roberts) of Boston, and they had six children, Mary Dorothea, Catherine Bernadette, Joseph, Stephen, Nora, and Allan; Roman Catholic; d. 7 December 1957 in Charlottetown. MacMillan, a Conservative, was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in the general election of 1923 for 5th Queens. He was re-elected in the general elections of 1927, 1931, 1939, 1943, 1947,and 1951. He was defeated in the general elections of 1935 and 1955. On 5 September 1923, he was appointed as a Minister without Portfolio in the government of J. D. Stewart. He was sworn in as the province's first Minister of Education and Public Health on 14 August 1931. After assuming office, he was re-elected by acclamation. During the illness of Premier James Stewart'1', MacMillan served as acting Premier. Upon Stewart's death in 1933, MacMillan became Premier as well as Provincial Secretary Treasurer on 13 October, and served as premier until 1935. He served as Leader of the Opposition from 1935 until he resigned from that position on 26 June 1950. "Doctor W. J. P.," as he was known, entered politics "not with a political motive but to try and obtain a grant for his favourite charity," the Red Cross Society. However, he remained in the Legislature after he achieved this objective and served continuously until 1955, except for the period when the Liberals, under Walter M. Lea*, won every seat in the 1935 general election. In 1957 MacMillan was appointed to the post of Lieutenant-Governor, but passed away two weeks after his appointment and before he was sworn in. The ceremony was to take place on 16 December. MacMillan's government was associated, unavoidably, with the effects of the Great Depression. The harsh economic realities of this period contributed to the defeat of his government in 1935. Furthermore, MacMillan entered politics and the provincial government at a time "when finances were strained as a result of two fires which destroyed Prince of Wales College and Falconwood, the then provincial Mental Hospital." He had both buildings rebuilt and, at the same time, elevated Prince of Wales to junior college status. Perhaps MacMillan's greatest success was his procurement of a Carnegie Foundation endowment for establishing the provincial library system that still serves the Island. He also obtained money from the Carnegie Foundation for Prince of Wales College and St. Dunstan's University. MacMillan received his early education in Clermont. He attended Kensington High School and Prince ofWales College. Upon graduation from McGill in 1908 with a medical degree, he received the Holmes Gold Medal and, in 1915, received an honourary Doctor of Laws degree from the same institution. MacMillan chaired the Medical Board of the Charlottetown Hospital and served as president of the Children's Aid Society, the Red Cross Society, the Cancer Society, the Anti-tuberculosis League, and the Prince Edward Island Medical Association. He was City Health Officer and served on the Charlottetown School Board. For 22 years, MacMillan was a member of the Canadian Medical Council. He was a fellow and member of the board of governors of the American College of Surgeons and was also a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and the International College of Surgeons. MacMillan was a long-time member of the Charlottetown Rotary Club, held high office in the Knights of Columbus, and was honourary chieftain of the Caledonia Club. He was awarded an Order of the British Empire for his work on the home front during the Second World War. W. J. P. MacMillan died 7 December 1957 at the Charlottetown Hospital. Mary B. MacMillan and Letitia MacMillan were the daughters of Hugh S. Macdonald of South Boston, Massachusetts. Mary Dorothea MacMillan, a daughter, married Alban Farmer'', and Catherine Bernadette MacMillan, another daughter, married Charles St. Clair Trainor*.