John Babington Macauley Baxter was born on February 16, 1868 in Saint John, New Brunswick. He was educated at King’s College Law School, Windsor, Nova Scotia and graduated with a B.C.L. in 1890. Called to the bar that same year he practiced law in Saint John and was created a K.C. in 1909.
He was very active in municipal politics and served on the Saint John city council from 1890 until 1910. He was first elected as a Conservative member for Saint John County in the provincial election of 1911 and he was to represent this riding until 1921. In 1920 he was elected as the leader of the New Brunswick Conservative Party.
He retired briefly from provincial politics in 1921 when he was elected as a federal M.P. for the riding of Saint John - Albert, and he was appointed as the Minister of Customs in the cabinet of Arthur Meighen. He resigned from Federal politics in 1925 and returned to lead the New Brunswick Conservative Party in the provincial election of 1925.
His party was elected and Baxter became Premier of the province and served in this office and as Attorney-General of the province until 1931, when he retired from politics for good to accept an appointment to the Supreme Court of New Brunswick and in 1935 he became the Chief Justice of the province.
Baxter had been very active in the militia as a young man and he served as Commanding Officer of the New Brunswick Regiment from 1907 - 1912. He later wrote a history of the regiment. He was a member of True Blue L.O.L. 11 and one of the lodge’s prized possessions for many years was a Union Jack presented to the lodge by Baxter. John Baxter died on December 27, 1946.
Keiller MacKay was born in Pictou County, Nova Scotia on July 11, 1888. He was educated at St. Francis Xavier University and the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario. He later attended Dalhousie University where he receive the degree of L.L.B. in 1922.
At the age of fourteen MacKay had enlisted as a gunner in the Artillery Brigade [militia] in Halifax and the military was to play a prominent part in his life. During World War One he was a lieutenant in the 6th Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery. He was promoted to major, commanding the 22nd Battery, 6th Brigade in 1915. In 1916 he was given the rank of lieutenant-colonel and became Commanding Officer of the 6th Brigade.
MacKay commanded three mobile groups of artillery known as the "MacKay Group" in 1918. He was wounded in February, 1916 and again seriously wounded at the Somme in May of 1918. He was awarded the D.S.O. and mentioned in despatches on three occasions.
After his graduation from law school in 1922 MacKay moved to Toronto and practiced law as a partner in the firm of MacKay, Matheson and Martin. He was appointed as a justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario in 1935 and of the Court of Appeal in 1950.
He was appointed as the Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario in 1957 and served in this role until 1963. He held many positions among which he was a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Toronto and he was chancellor of the University of Windsor. MacKay was a member of Cameron L.O.L. 613 in Toronto, an Orange Lodge with a strong military background and one which had one of the highest percentage of enlistments in both World Wars. John Keiller MacKay died on June 12, 1970.
Chesley Fillier
Chesley Fillier was born in 1897 in Clarke’s Beach, Newfoundland. As a youth he worked for the firm of J. B. Martin on Bell Island which was managed by his father. He joined the Newfoundland Regiment in 1914 and went overseas with them. He was wounded several times and spent three years in London, England hospitals before returning home in 1918, where he spent almost another year in hospital before being released. He returned to Clarke’s Beach in 1919 and began the firm of Chesley Fillier and Son Limited.
Fillier joined Bartholomew L.O.L. 40 on December 15, 1914 and he later served as master of the lodge in 1924 and 1925. He was one of the founding members of Wandsworth Royal Black Preceptory No. 1250 in 1943 and of Charing Cross Orange Young Britons Lodge No. 146 in 1952. He named both of these new lodges with the names of the hospitals that he had been treated in during World War One in England.
Fillier served as Grand Master of Newfoundland when the debate over the province joining confederation began. Everyone knew that it would be a close vote and both sides pulled out all stops to win. In June, 1948, after the first referendum, the Roman Catholic newspaper, "The Monitor" came out in favour of Responsible Government and against union with Canada.
There was an immediate fallout throughout the province. The Grand Orange Lodge of Newfoundland were at that time holding their annual convention in Grand Falls and the issue of confederation was a hot topic. They came to an agreement that a letter should be sent out to all Orangemen in Newfoundland telling them to ignore the attempts of the Roman Catholic Church to sway the upcoming vote against confederation.
The letter was signed by Chesley Fillier and became known as the "Orange Letter". The letter became known to the public almost immediately and brought religion to the forefront of the debate for and against union with Canada. Fillier died on March 01, 1969.
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