Our Man in London

When Sir Charles Tupper arrived in London in 1883, this Nova Scotia–born father of Confederation must have known that his new responsibilities as high commissioner would be wide-ranging. Barely a decade after Ottawa decided to establish permanent representation in the United Kingdom, the high commission remained a small and modest operation. Employees, not least the high commissioner himself, had to be resourceful jacks-of-all-trades, always ready to provide assistance to Canadian businessmen or government officials in order to help them overcome the sundry problems they encountered in the mother country.

Sir Charles, however, was an especially creative problem fixer, one who never shrank from a challenge. One story is especially revealing of his character. In those days, the UK was an important market for Canadian foodstuffs, but cumber-some regulations often stood in the way of greater exports. When, one morning, Tupper’s office was informed that cunning British...