Fonds F1016 - Douglas Alexander Skelton fonds

Alex Skelton (1907-1950), Assistant Deputy Minister of Trade and Commerce in Canada, was born in Chicago, Illinois, and moved to Kingston when his father, O.D. Skelton, was Dean of the Faculty of Arts. After obtaining his B.A. degree with honours from Queen's (1927), he attended University College, Oxford, for two years and gained his B.A. in philosophy, politics and economics. When he returned to Canada, he received an appointment as acting professor of political science at the University of Saskatchewan, and in 1931, became economist of the Beauharnois Power Corporation, Montreal. He joined the Bank of Canada in 1935 as chief of the research department, and was made research adviser in 1944. In this capacity, he prepared reports on the financial position of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, and served as secretary of the Rowell-Sirois Commission from 1937-1940. While in Lagos, Nigeria at the request of the British government and through his membership on the Royal Commission, he was drowned in a yachting accident.