World Citizen James Wheeler Davidson (1872 – 1933)

By Dr. Robert Lampard

When Rotary founder Paul Harris wrote his last article for the Rotarian in 1947, he identified three Men of Rotary. The first was the 30-year Executive Secretary of Rotary, Mr. Chesley Perry. The other two were Halifax lawyer J. Layton Ralston and Calgary businessman James Wheeler Davidson.

The latter two, together with Doug Howland of the Calgary Rotary Club chartered 47 Rotary Clubs in 18 different countries in 1921, 1923/4 and from 1928-34.

Together with the Winnipeg Rotarians who formed the first Club outside the United States in 1910, these three Canadian Rotarians completed the circumnavigation of Rotary around the world by chartering Clubs from Greece to New Zealand.

James Wheeler Davidson

As recorded in 75 Years of Service, the History of Rotary in Australia, the 1921 “choice of Canadians for the assignment is significant. It was decided (by whom is not known) that Canadians should be involved in the attempt…RI would have been aware of those close ties of Empire…Rotarians from a sister Dominion could be assured of a warm welcome…the Americans were friends and allies; Canadians were family…whatever the reasons for their selection, the Australian Rotarians owe them and the Rotarians of Canada a debt a gratitude…”.
– J. Layton Ralston

The man at the centre of the Rotary Extension programme was James Wheeler Davidson. Paul Harris acknowledged that
his international reputation was already established before he joined the Calgary Rotary Club in 1914.

By then, the man from Austin, Minnesota had been a North Pole explorer, a syndicated Far East journalist, a war
correspondent, and a US Consul General in Shanghai before he came to Calgary with his new wife Lillian in 1907.

In Calgary he developed CPR lands northeast and southeast of Calgary, rapidly syndicated the Crown Lumber company into 52 branches with 200 employees, helped start the Calgary Symphony, initiated the Calgary Mawson Report and successful invested in the Turner Valley Oil Fields.

Next week: James Wheeler Davidson – joining Rotary and the trip down under