Sedley Anthony Cudmore, B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

, M.A.

Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 , (November 27, 1878 to October 17, 1945) was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 economist

Economist

An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...

, academic

Academia

Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...

, civil servant

Civil service

The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....

 and Canada's second Dominion Statistician

Chief Statistician of Canada

The Chief Statistician of Canada is a deputy of the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada - the Minister of Industry.The Chief Statistician advises on matters pertaining to statistical programs of the department and agencies of the Government of Canada...

.

Early years

Cudmore was born in County Cork

County Cork

County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. At age 9 he and his family immigrated to Canada.

In 1899 he attended the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

 under the Prince of Wales matriculation scholarship, taking Classics

Classics

Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...

 and English

English studies

English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...

. He continued his studies at Wadham College, Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in history and economics earning a B.A and later an M.A degree.

He worked briefly for London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 newspapers and was, for a short period, a sub-editor on the London Standard. After he returned to Canada in 1908, he spent several years as a professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 of Political Economy

Political economy

Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...

 at the University of Toronto.

Career at the Dominion Bureau of Statistics (DBS)

He started working for the Dominion Bureau of Statistics

Dominion Bureau of Statistics

The Dominion Bureau of Statistics was a Canadian government organization responsible for censuses.It was formed in 1918 by the Statistics Act and replaced by Statistics Canada in 1971....

 in 1919 as editor of the Canada Year Book and head of the General Statistics Branch. In 1935, Cudmore was selected by the British government to establish a central statistical office in Jerusalem, where he remained for three years. When Robert H. Coats

Robert H. Coats

Robert Hamilton Coats was Canada's first Dominion Statistician.He was born in Clinton, Huron County, Ontario in 1874, the son of Charles Coats, who came to Canada from Scotland. In 1896, Coats received a B.A. from the University College in Toronto...

 retired in 1942, Cudmore became the new Dominion Statistician, after having served as Assistant Dominion Statistician since 1939.

Honours

In 1944, the University of Toronto conferred on Cudmore an honorary Doctor of Laws in recognition of his distinguished services.

Books

• Course of Instruction in Applied Economics (Toronto, Shaw Schools, Ltd., 1925).

• History of the World's Commerce, with Special Reference to Canada (rev. ed., London, Pitman, 1929; Toronto, Pitman, 1930).

Articles

• Commercial Policy and the Development of Commerce (in Cambridge History of the British Empire, vol. VI, pt. ii, Canada, c. 26, pp. 642–55).

• Constitution and Government of Canada (in Canada Year Book, 1921). Also issued as a reprint Provincial and Local Government in Canada. "Government Debts" (in The Canadian Economy and its Problems, Innis, H. A. and Plumptre, A. F. W., eds., Toronto, Canadian Institute of International Affairs, 1934, pp. 62–4).

• Primary and Secondary Education in Canada (Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. CVII, May, 1923, pp. 120–5).

• Some Personal Impressions of a Canadian Official at Jerusalem (The Institute Journal, vol. XVII, no. 8, Oct., 1938, pp. 217–23).

• Special Wartime Activities of a Central Statistical Bureau (Estadistica, vol. I, nos. 1, 2, March, June, 1943, pp. 183–4; 127–30).

• Statistical Activities of Canada (in Statistical Activity of the American Nations 1940, Phelps, Elizabeth, ed., Washington, Inter American Institute, 1941, pp. 127–64).

• War Obligations of Institute Members (The Institute Journal, vol. XX, no. 3, March, 1941, pp. 33–4).

• What the Institute Means to Me (The Institute Journal, vol. XXII, no. 9, Nov., 1943, pp. 193–4).

• Rural and Urban Composition of the Canadian Population (in collaboration with H. G. Caldwell, in Seventh Census of Canada, 1931, vol. 13, monographs, pp. 441–533). Also issued as a reprint.

Death

Cudmore died suddenly on October 17, 1945, at age 66, while attending the first conference of the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

' Food and Agriculture Organization

Food and Agriculture Organization

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and...

 in Québec City

Quebec City

Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...

. During his brief term in office, Cudmore laid the foundation for the modernization of the DBS programs and management.