On August 29, 1952 a memo was sent to the Chair of all McGill Departments from the Secretary of State announcing the creation of the Beatty Lecture. The memo explained that a committee consisting of Principal F. Cyril James, Dean David L. Thomson of Graduate Studies and Research, and Dean H. Noel Fieldhouse of Arts and Science, would "welcome suggestions concerning suitable lecturers."

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Principal Cyril F. James (in 1937) was appointed in 1940 by Chancellor Beatty and served until 1962. Image: Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Archive.

In an era before YouTube and TED Talks, a visit by a world-renowned thinker was a rare opportunity that could make headlines, draw crowds and become the ‘talk of the town’. The committee soon received a groundswell of recommendations.

"With the world to choose from, it becomes difficult to select for the Beatty Lectureship," wrote Dean Thomson to Principal James on May 5, 1952.
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Letter dated May 19, 1952 from Dean H. N Fieldhouse with his suggestions of possible lecturers.
Two would go on to deliver lectures: Max Beloff and A. L. Rowse. Image: Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Archives.

The process of inviting star speakers to the Beatty lectern was no easy task, however, particularly during the Beatty's early years. Overseas travel to Montreal still required a journey of several days by steamship rather than a few hours in a jet plane. Plus, lecturers were required to commit to a month at McGill and to deliver a series of three lectures.

Over the next two years a flurry of persuasive letters and telegrams dispatched from Principal James reached the desks of the world’s leading thinkers in Cambridge, Oxford and London and as far away as Accra and New Delhi. The hard work paid off. In 1954, India’s first Vice President delivered the inaugural Beatty Lecture, followed in 1955 by Barbara Ward, the first female editor of The Economist magazine and in 1956 by the renowned biologist Julian Huxley.
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Telegram to Principal James from Dame Barbara Ward in Accra, Ghana. Image: Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Archives.

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Not everyone invited to the Beatty lectern accepted the honour. Dean Thomson's initial suggestions included poet T. S. Elliot, historian Herbert Butterfield and literary critic I. A. Richards—none of whom would go on to lecture.

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A polite 'no' to Principal James from poet T. S. Eliot. Image: Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Archives.

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Vincent Massey, who had just completed an eight-year term as Canada's Governor General, also "reluctantly" declined Principal James' offer to deliver the Beatty Lecture in 1959.

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A 'no' from former Canadian Governor General Vincent Massey in 1959. Image: Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Library.
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Committee members voted to decide which lecturers to invite from a short list. After Principal James retired in 1962, the Beatty Lecture Committee expanded to include staff and faculty members. Two notable members during the Lecture's first two decades included Canadian author and professor of English Hugh McLennan, who would go on to win two Governor General Awards for his writing and former Vice-Principal Michael Oliver, who became the founding president of the New Democratic Party.

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Hugh McLennan, unknown date. Image: Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Archive.

The selection of Beatty lecturers always reflected the day's current events. Minutes from a 1967 Committee Meeting stated that lecturers who could speak on the following topics should be invited: "Asia (Viet Nam/China), The Urban Revolution, Computer/Communication, Science, Government/Secrecy and The Writer." The committee's first choice of lecturer that year was the author Elizabeth Han Suyin—who went on to deliver a series of three lectures in 1968 titled 'Asia Today: Two Outlooks'—followed by the social philosopher Lewis Mumford and the inventor and futurist Buckminster Fuller.

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Elizabeth Han Suyin delivers the first of three Beatty Lectures on October 22, 1968. Image: Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Archives.

During the 1970s, McGill's Information Office contacted Canadian embassies around the world to request names of possible lecturers. The Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C. suggested Russell Nye, the Pulitzer Prize winning pioneer of pop culture theory. The Canadian Embassy in Barcelona suggested Manuel Fraga Iribarne, the founder of Spain's Peoples Party. The Mission of Canada to the European Communities suggested political analyst Uwe Kitzinger. The Canadian High Commission in India suggested Sripati Chandrasekhar, India’s former Minister of Family Planning.

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The Canadian Embassy in Spain suggested Manuel Fraga Iribarne as a Beatty lecturer. Image: Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Archives.

In 1972, responsibility for the Lecture was transferred from the Principal's Office to a committee led by the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, and chaired by Dean Hitschfeld. The committee expanded to include representatives from the Faculties of Arts, Mathematics, Physiology, Biochemistry & Experimental Medicine, Linguistics, Psychology, English, Philosophy, History and Comparative Law as well as the Institute of Islamic Studies.

The Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research disbanded in 2001 but the Lecture stayed with Research and became part of the portfolio of McGill's Office of the Vice-Principal, Research and International Relations, which in 2016 became the Office of the Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation.