O-6188

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painting (portrait)

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Dr. Arthur Beauchesne

Kenneth Forbes

Kenneth Forbes was born in Toronto in 1892, and first studied art with his father, the portraitist John Colin Forbes. He also studied in England and Scotland, until he joined a British machine-gun corps to fight in the First World War. He was gassed and wounded, and twice mentioned in dispatches for gallantry. In 1917 he became a Canadian war artist, and his gripping painting Canadian Artillery in Action is on permanent display at the Canadian War Museum. Forbes was an outspoken foe of modern art and helped to establish the traditionally minded Ontario Institute of Painters.

Arthur Beauchesne

Arthur Beauchesne, CMG, QC, FRSC (1876–1959), was appointed Clerk Assistant of the House of Commons in 1916, following the death of Jean-Baptiste Plante in the fire that destroyed the original Parliament Building. He later served as Clerk of the House of Commons from 1925 to 1949, becoming the first French Canadian to hold the position since Confederation.

Born in Carleton, Bonaventure County, Quebec, Beauchesne earned a bachelor's degree from St. Joseph's College in Memramcook, New Brunswick. He then pursued studies in literature and law in Montreal, receiving a degree in literature in 1897. He was called to the Quebec Bar in 1904. Before beginning his legal career, he worked as a journalist and as private secretary to both the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec and the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec.

Beauchesne maintained a strong interest in politics throughout his life. He ran unsuccessfully in the federal elections of 1908 and 1953, as well as in the 1912 Quebec provincial election.

From 1939 to 1945, during the Second World War, he served as Acting Sergeant-at-Arms while the incumbent, Brigadier Milton Fowler Gregg, VC, PC, OC, CBE, MC and Bar, ED, CD, re-enlisted for military service. Beauchesne retired from the House of Commons in 1949.

He is best known as the author of the procedural manual Rules and Forms of the House of Commons of Canada, commonly referred to as “Beauchesne’s Rules.”

In 2003, Parks Canada designated Arthur Beauchesne a National Historic Person in recognition of his national reputation as a specialist in parliamentary procedure.