Arthur Blaikie Purvis

Life and career

Purvis was born in London to a Scottish father and was educated at the Tottenham Grammar School. During World War I, Purvis was responsible for the purchase of materials for explosives in America. After the War, he moved to Canada in order to head Canadian Industries Limited. In 1936, he was appointed by William Lyon Mackenzie King to chair the National Employment Commission.

On the outbreak of World War II, Purvis was appointed by the British government to be director-general of the British Purchasing Commission, which was charged with buying war supplies from the United States. He was also chairman of the Anglo-French Purchasing Board, where he worked alongside Jean Monnet. In June 1940, when France was on the verge of concluding an armistice with Germany, Purvis arranged to take over all the pending French weapons contracts in the United States at the cost of $612 million.

In 1941, he was made chairman of the British Supply Council in North America, having overall responsibility over all British war purchases in the United States. He was killed in an air crash on 14 August 1941, when his plane crashed shortly after taking off from RAF Heathfield in Scotland.

Purvis' contemporaries held him in high regard: Henry Morgenthau Jr. wrote that Purvis was "the ablest British representative in Washington but one of the rarest persons I have ever known", while Jean Monnet wrote that he "served the Allied war effort magnificently until his death". On his death, Winston Churchill wrote that "Purvis was a grievous loss, as he held so many British, American, and Canadian threads in his hands".

Purvis was made a Privy Counsellor in 1940, but was killed before he could be sworn in.

A memorial service for him was held 20 August 1941 at Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal.