Martin Burrell

The Honourable Martin Burrell PC
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Yale—Cariboo
In office 26 October 1908 – 16 December 1917
Preceded by	Duncan Ross
Succeeded by	District abolished
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Yale
In office 17 December 1917 – 7 July 1920
Preceded by	District created
Succeeded by	John Armstrong MacKelvie
Minister of Agriculture
In office 16 October 1911 – 11 October 1917
Prime Minister	Robert Borden
Preceded by	Sydney Arthur Fisher
Succeeded by	Thomas Crerar
Secretary of State for Canada
In office 12 October 1917 – 30 December 1919
Prime Minister	Robert Borden
Preceded by	Arthur Meighen
Succeeded by	Arthur Sifton
Minister of Mines
In office 12 October 1917 – 30 December 1919
Prime Minister	Robert Borden
Preceded by	Arthur Meighen
Succeeded by	Arthur Meighen
Minister of Customs and Inland Revenue
In office 31 December 1919 – 7 July 1920
Prime Minister	Robert Borden
Preceded by	John Dowsley Reid (Acting)
Succeeded by	Rupert Wilson Wigmore
Parliamentary Librarian
In office 1920–1938
Preceded by	Martin Joseph Griffin
Succeeded by	Francis Aubrey Hardy
Personal details
Born	(1858-10-19)19 October 1858 Faringdon, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), England
Died	20 March 1938(1938-03-20) (aged 79)
Political party	Conservative

Martin Burrell PC (19 October 1858 – 20 March 1938) was a Canadian politician.

Born in Faringdon, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), Burrell emigrated to Canada as a young man, where he eventually became a fruit grower on a farm about two miles east of Grand Forks, British Columbia. His farm was the largest apple tree nursery in the province.

He was elected mayor of Grand Forks, British Columbia in 1903. He first ran unsuccessfully for the House of Commons of Canada as the Conservative candidate in the 1904 federal election for the constituency of Yale—Cariboo. He was elected in the 1908 federal election and re-elected in 1911. In 1917 he was re-elected as a Unionist.

Burrell served as the Minister of Agriculture in the Borden government from 1911 to 1917, and from 1917 to 1919, as Secretary of State of Canada and Minister of Mines. From 1919 to 1920, he was the Minister of Customs and Inland Revenue. He also helped secure the departure of the Komagata Maru, against those mistreating the passengers and prolonging the departure date.

A fire damaged the Parliament Buildings in 1917, and Burrell was badly injured in it. From that time he filled the position of librarian for the Library of Parliament. After leaving politics, he remained in Ottawa and kept the position of Parliamentary Librarian until his death in 1938. He is buried in Beechwood Cemetery.

Burrell Creek near Grand Forks, British Columbia, is named in his honour.

External links

• Serving Agriculture: Canada's Ministers of Agriculture
• Martin Burrell – Parliament of Canada biography
• Burrell Creek