“It was announced from Sandringham at 10:45 a.m. today, February 6, 1952, that the King, who retired to rest last night in his usual health, passed peacefully away in his sleep early this morning.” — official statement from Buckingham Palace announcing the death of King George VI
As February 1952 began, the public had become concerned by press images of King George VI. On January 31, a thin, haggard-looking monarch was photographed sending Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip off from London for their trip to Africa and Australia. It would be his final public appearance. Despite hopes that he would soon tour South Africa, the years of stress and heavy smoking, coupled with an incomplete recovery following the removal of a lung in September 1951, proved too much for the 56-year-old King’s frail body. During the night on February 6, he quietly passed away from a coronary thrombosis. For the first time since the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, Ontarians would pledge loyalty to a queen.
Among the first people in Ontario to report the King’s death was CFRB early morning host John Bradshaw. According to Toronto Daily Star radio columnist Gordon Sinclair, while a record was playing, Bradshaw “sauntered toward the news tickers to see if something might be coming in that would be useful on a dawn farm show. Final words on the fatal flash were just ticking in, so Bradshaw ripped off the paper, hurried back to the mike, lifted the needle from his disc and let fly with words.”
Front page of the North Bay Nugget on February 6, 1952.
As Ontarians awoke, a sombre mood settled across the province. “You felt you had lost a friend this morning. Or even a member of the family,” the Toronto Daily Star observed later that day. “It was as personal as that.” On Toronto’s streetcars, “a mild and muting melancholy rode with every load. The normal noisy chatter was reduced to a murmur and the murmur had but one refrain. The passengers told each other the news, but they always told it gently, as if breaking it to someone close. And usually they met disbelief.”
In Ottawa, a Journal reporter noted that “the big morning smile which the policeman always wears on point duty at Bank and Queen was missing today. The gentle sadness which was everywhere had fallen on him as it had fallen earlier upon innumerable breakfast tables.” In Kingston, dozens of people called city hall to see what they could do or say to help remember the King. At the opening of the annual Alma Mater Society lecture at Queen’s University that morning, principal W.A. Mackintosh said that young people would focus on the weight of the responsibilities thrust upon a new, young monarch.
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother) visit Ottawa (1939)
Over the course of the day, life ground to a halt as people figured out how to pay their respects. Public and separate schools held special assemblies or planned them for the next day, bringing in local clergy to conduct prayer services. Local governments began planning civic ceremonies while waiting for Ottawa to declare a National Day of Mourning once a funeral date for the King had been set. Homes and businesses draped their doors and windows in black and purple crepe, keeping textile manufacturers busy. At Queen’s Park, the legislature lowered its flags. A new proclamation would be required before government business could resume on February 21. Although the legislature continued that day, Premier Leslie Frost wore a black tie. All official functions were cancelled. The Supreme Court of Ontario immediately adjourned its sitting in Ottawa; all justices would have to head to Toronto to take their new oaths.
Virtually all social activities in the immediate future were cancelled, including that night’s match between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Rangers. Maple Leaf Gardens vice-president George McCullagh said that arena management felt it would be inappropriate for the game to go on in the midst of the mourning. It was only the second time a Leafs’ home game had been cancelled — the first having happened under similar circumstances in 1936, following the death of King George V. The Rangers took advantage of the situation by taking an earlier train to their next game in Chicago. The arena would be used on February 15 — the same day as his funeral — for Toronto’s official mourning ceremony, which was attended by 5,000 people.
Photo from the February 6, 1952, edition of the Windsor Star.
In North Bay, the regularly scheduled meeting at branch 23 of the Canadian Legion carried on that night. In a darkened room, a muted trumpet played “The Last Post.” Attendees pledged an oath of allegiance to the new Queen, then flags, a portrait of the King, and the Legion Charter were draped in black. The meeting ended with the first singing of “God Save the Queen” in the branch’s history.
To maintain a solemn atmosphere, CBC cancelled all commercials over its two radio networks for two days. It instead carried special programming including news, BBC broadcasts (if weather didn’t interfere with signals), a speech from Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, and “appropriate music.” Many private broadcasters followed suit; for example, Toronto’s CHUM planned a special program that night of classical and religious music, including the King’s favourite hymns. Americans latched onto Canadian press coverage. That evening’s edition of NBC television’s Camel News Caravan displayed the front page of the Toronto Telegram, along with photos of Toronto mayor Allan Lamport signing a message of condolence.
Queen Elizabeth II, the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal and the Duke of Edinburgh after the Queen's coronation on February 6. 1953. (Press Association/CP).
On editorial pages across the province, writers reflected on the King’s upstanding moral character, his faith, his modesty, his inspirational role during the Second World War, and his stops during the royal visit in 1939. A typical example appeared in the Toronto Daily Star. “The outstanding characteristic of the good King who has now passed was probably his courage,” its editorial page noted. “He was thrust unexpectedly into a position which he had never thought to achieve. He was handicapped by a physical weakness which he tried bravely, and with great success, to overcome. With his lovely and gracious consort, he made the throne all that any nation could desire. He had a firm place in the affections and respect of his people.”
Flags temporarily flew at full mast on February 7 to mark the accession of Queen Elizabeth II but were then lowered again. Over the next week, people laid wreaths at local war memorials, and churches held many special services. Boy Scouts in Windsor were ordered to wear black arm bands whenever they appeared in uniform in public.
Illustration from the February 6, 1952, edition of the Windsor Star.
Communities marked the National Day of Mourning on February 15 in a variety of ways. In some municipalities, businesses closed all day, while in others, local business associations asked for a set period of time (for example, all shops in Georgetown closed between 12:30 and 3:30). Large factories kept going but offered breaks for a two-minute silence or, as in the case of the Ford plant in Windsor, a full five-minute service piped via PA to the assembly line. In North Bay, telephone service was completely suspended during an observation of silence.
Civic memorial services occurred throughout the day, and many churches provided their own programmes. In some places, veterans, clergy, politicians, civic and youth organizations, and orders such as the IODE and Orange Lodge led parades to the services — which included extensive use of Biblical speeches, national anthems, and moments of silence. The service at H.M.C.S. Hunter’s building in Windsor was unique for its cross-border nature; attendees included Detroit mayor Albert Cobo and Michigan governor G. Mennen Williams. One town that did not experience a full community service was Paris: the local association of ministers cancelled it, saying it could not reach an agreement with local labour and industries on worker attendance.
The original plan for the national ceremony in Ottawa involved holding it at the National War Memorial cenotaph. But the cold weather forced it into the Hall of Fame in the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings. The Peace Tower carillon rang for an hour starting at 2 p.m. After a two-minute silence just before 3 p.m., a 56-gun salute — with each shot representing a year of the King’s life — was fired off. Bands representing the armed forces and the RCMP played Chopin’s funeral march, “Abide With Me” (the King’s favourite hymn), and national anthems. Wreaths were placed in the Hall of Fame by dignitaries including outgoing governor general Viscount Alexander, Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, Chief Justice Thibaudeau Rinfret, opposition leader George Drew, and Ottawa mayor Charlotte Whitton.
The Last Journey: Funeral Of King George VI (1952) | British Pathé
The service was broadcast by CBC and many private radio stations as part of their intermittent schedules that day. Most stations followed the CBC’s lead and broadcast only the national memorial and funeral coverage from England in between stretches of silence. One wonders if, by this point, some listeners were tiring of the solemn broadcasts; across the Atlantic, a prominent Catholic clergyman, J.C. Heenan, complained that the BBC was “wrapping the nation in gloom.” As Heenan observed, “the death of a constitutional monarch need not paralyze the legitimate relaxation of the whole nation for so long.”
Perhaps one of the best eulogies was delivered in print by Globe and Mail columnist Frank Tumpane, who observed that the public had set near-impossible behaviour demands for the royal family to live up to. “It was the great triumph of the King that he did indeed live up to the code that his fond and tyrannical people set in their hearts and minds for him,” Tumpane wrote the day after the King’s death. “None of his people in Canada or Great Britain was ever ashamed for him; or embarrassed by him. Before the King spoke, we knew he would say the right thing, Before he acted, we knew he would do the right thing. We were proud of the King. We felt safe with him. He was a King in the tradition of kings.”
Sources: the February 7, 1952, February 15, 1952, and February 16, 1952, editions of the Globe and Mail; the February 6, 1952, edition of the Kingston Whig-Standard; the February 7, 1952, edition of the North Bay Nugget; the February 15, 1952, and February 16, 1952, editions of the Ottawa Citizen; the February 6, 1952, and February 15, 1952, editions of the Ottawa Journal; the February 6, 1952, and February 7, 1952, editions of the Toronto Daily Star; and the February 6, 1952, February 7, 1952, and February 15, 1952, editions of the Windsor Star.