Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook

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Max Aitken giving a speech during the Second World War

William Maxwell ( "Max") Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook also known as Lord Beaverbrook PC ONB (* 25. May 1879 in Maple , Ontario , Canada ; † 9. June 1964 in Mickleham , Surrey , England ) was a Canadian - British Publisher and conservative politician .

After previously being a successful entrepreneur in Canada, Aitken moved from Canada to the UK in 1910. He subsequently became a close friend of Andrew Bonar Laws , with whom he had many biographical similarities. Aitken was able to persuade Law to support him in running for a Conservative constituency. In December 1910 he was for the constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne to the House ( House of Commons elected). The following year he was ennobled and began buying a press group that included the Evening Standard and Daily Express .

During the First World War , Aitken was commissioned by the Canadian government to inform the Allied press about Canada's contribution to warfare, which he did through his own books. For this he was appointed Baronet in 1916 and Baron Beaverbrook and Minister of Information in 1917. At Crewe House he led the inter-allied cooperation in war propaganda. In 1918 he was briefly as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster cabinet member in the Lloyd George government .

In the interwar period, Aitken had great influence due to its press empire. This was particularly evident in the crisis of 1936, when the Aitkens newspapers published every detail of King Edward VIII's affair with the divorced American Wallis Simpson and his contacts with Nazi Germany. He met Toto Koopman and introduced her to London's high society. Koopman was the most famous model of the time.

During the Second World War, Aitken was first minister of aircraft production, then as successor to Andrew Duncan Minister of replenishment . He achieved a massive increase in the number of fighters and bombers produced . In 1943 he became Lord Keeper of the Seal , which he held until 1945.

After the end of the war he distinguished himself as a patron in the United Kingdom and in the Canadian province of New Brunswick . He also wrote various books. He lived in the Cherkley Court manor near Leatherhead in Surrey , which he lived in for more than 50 years. After his death in 1964, his fortune fell to the non-profit Beaverbrook Foundation , which continues his work and is currently run by his grandson.

Aitken was married twice. His first wife, with whom he had three children, died in 1927. At the age of 84, he married Marcia Anastasia Christoforides in 1963, the widow of his friend James Dunn .

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predecessor Office successor
New title created Baron Beaverbrook
1917-1964 		Max Aitken
Frederick Cawley Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
1918 		Hayes Fisher
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil Lord Seal Keeper
1943–1945 		Arthur Greenwood
personal data
SURNAME Aitken, Max, 1st Baron Beaverbrook
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Beaverbrook, William Maxwell Aitken 1st Baron
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British press czar and politician, Member of the House of Commons
DATE OF BIRTH May 25, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Maple
DATE OF DEATH June 9, 1964
Place of death Mickleham , Surrey