Victor Odlum

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General Victor Odlum by Jack Boothe, 1936.
General Victor Odlum by Jack Boothe, 1936.

Victor Wentworth Odlum, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O. (21 October 1880 – 4 April 1971) was a Canadian journalist, soldier, and diplomat. He was prominent and very active in the business and political elite of Vancouver, British Columbia up until his death in the 1960s. He was a newspaper publisher, a Liberal MLA from 1924-1928, co-founder of the Non-Partisan Association in 1937, temperance advocate, original director of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and a Canadian Ambassador. He fought in the Boer War and the First and Second World Wars.

Odlum was born in Coburg, Ontario, and came to Vancouver in 1889 with his family after four years in Japan. He is the son of Edward Odlum (1850-1935), a notable historian and supporter of the Israelite movement. (A small street in Vancouver is named after the senior Odlum).

Victor Odlum gained national prominence in World War I as a Major General for pioneering an effective guerrilla technique of trench raids that the Germans later copied. Men under his command variously called him "pea soup Odlum," or "Old lime juice" because he was a strict teatotaller and that is what he made them drink after denying them the usual rum ration.

Odlum was also a newspaperman, having served as the editor of the Vancouver World for a period when he was 25, and later as the owner of the Vancouver Star. As with his rivals in the business at the time, Odlum used the paper to aggressively promote his views and advance political causes, such as the temperance movement. One campaign he led through his newspaper was to stir up anti-Chinese fervour after Janet Smith, a Scottish, domestic worker in the posh Shaughnessy neighbourhood, was found dead. Odlum promoted the theory that she was murdered by the Chinese houseboy, who was charged, harassed, and even kidnapped by vigilantes, despite the lack of any evidence.[1] Odlum shut down the Star because his employees had unionized and refused to accept a pay cut. During the 1930s, he helped coordinate and train Special Constables hired to break a strike on Vancouver's waterfront.[2]

From 1941 to 1942, he was the High Commissioner to Australia. From 1942 to 1946, he was the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to China. In 1947, he was appointed Canada's first Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Turkey. He served until 1952.

He was well-known as a zealous reader, and in 1963 donated his collection of 10,000 books to the library at the University of British Columbia.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Macdonald, Ian (2000). Canadian Holy War: A Story of Clans, Tongs, Murder, and Bigotry. Surrey, BC: Heritage House. 
  2. ^ Stanton, John (1987). Never Say Die! The Life and Times of a Pioneer Labour Lawyer. Vancouver: Steel Rail Publishing. 
  3. ^ "UBC Gets Odlum Library", UBC Reports, Sept.-Oct. 1963. Retrieved on 2007-11-09. 
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