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Despite his position in
government, like all parents of boys at war, Harry's father was compelled to wait for
news of his son in
the mail. Those letters home, many written to his father, tell Harry's story. Ernest George Hansell, was
born May 14th,1895 in Norwich, England the eldest son
of Rachel and Walter Hansell.
 Hansell
Family
Ernest was blessed with many
talents, one of which was his ability to draw. In
March of 1904, he was awarded a prize for the
"best drawing book" in his class. The prize
was a book of stories appropriate for an
eight-year-old, in which he kept a sample of his
earliest work.
Artwork
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Later that same year, the family moved
to Canada residing in Reston, Manitoba where Ernest completed
most of his education including High School. The family moved
to Calgary in 1911.
As a young man his first jobs included
a stint, as a CPR ticket agent in Calgary, but Ernest had
ambition to develop his artistic talent. A course in
commercial art helped him obtain a position as cartoonist for
the old Calgary News-Telegram in 1917, while freelancing for
other Canadian publications.
Political Cartoon
A work in pen & ink
A poem for
Hilda Hilda's
bible inscription
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Ernest married the former
Alice Edwards of New York City, on April 20th, 1917.
They traveled to Los Angeles to visit a friend who
was studying in the Bible Institute there. He sat in
on a few lectures and ended up taking the whole
course, graduating from the Southern School of
Divinity in Los Angeles. He then did post-graduate
study in Dallas, Texas. While still a student he was
called to take over the Rose Hill Baptist Church in
Los Angeles. |
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Ordained in 1920, he went to British Columbia on
evangelistic and Bible conference work. He combined
speaking engagements with blackboard cartooning.
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Ernest was called to Westbourne Baptist Church in
Calgary in 1922 and it was here that his connection
with Social Credit and its founder, William Aberhart
began. Mr. Aberhart and a number of others carried on
Bible classes at the church during the evening. These
eventually, grew into the Prophetic Bible Institute
in Calgary where he and E.C. Manning both preached
prior to becoming Premiers of the Province.
Aberhart | Westbourne | Prophetic
Bible Institute | Manning
William
Aberhart Memorial Tribute |
Harry Ernest Hansell was born to Ernest
and Alice in 1923, and a daughter Ruth came along in 1925.
Ern or EG as he was know to his
colleagues, family and friends, served as minister for the
Baptist congregation in Camrose, Alberta.
While serving in
Camrose, an
unfortunate sequence of events ended their marriage. This was
a dark time in Ern's life - an era in which society did not
easily accept a broken marriage for most people, let alone a
minister of the Gospel. In 1930, he filed for, and was
granted an uncontested divorce including custody of their two
children. Alice returned to New York, where she died a short
time later. Ernest then accepted a call as minister to the
Hillhurst Baptist Church in Calgary.
Hillhurst Baptist Church 
A letter to Harry from Daddy
Dad was a
real comic, a cartoonist and even had a spot in one of
the Calgary papers (I think) for his "Nip and
Tuck" which was something like Mutt and Jeff.
He took a lot of time
inscribing names, etc., in the front of Bibles and other
books. I'm sure he would have inscribed something in
Grandma's Bible. During the Parliamentary discussions he
used to completely fill up one of those large desk pads
we used to use with cartoons. I often wonder where they
all went.
He was a very particular
and neat man in everything he did from dress to anything
he put his hand to. Tools were always in place where they
could be found and his desk was always in order. When he
typed letters he would use just two fingers. He wasn't a
good speller and Mom would correct him. She quite often
typed letters for him when he was home. (She had worked
as a secretary and was a very fast typist.)
He had a tremendous sense
of humour and I would often catch him sitting in a living
room chair, deep in thought and chuckling to himself.
When anyone asked him what was so funny he would say
"Just thoughts"! I remember one incident that
he described: He was on an election campaign in a small
Alberta town and went for lunch in a restaurant. He had
to go to the washroom and when in there found there was
water on the floor from a leaky pipe so he rolled up his
pant legs to just below the knee so the cuffs wouldn't
get wet. When he came out people were looking at him and
whispering so he walked a little taller proudly thinking
they were remarking, "That's Mr. Hansell, our
MP". When he went outside he felt a little cool
around the lower legs and much to his embarrassment he
realized he hadn't rolled down his pant legs before coming
out of the washroom!
Being a short man one of
his favorite sayings was, "I was always short until
I was in my late teens, then I SHOT RIGHT UP!!"
His family respected him
and would never dream of talking back. He didn't have to
lay a hand on us because he would just look at us with
his brown eyes, not blinking.
Another one of his many
amusements was to lay in bed on his back with one of
Hilda's hats on and stare straight ahead without cracking
a smile. Mom would go into the bedroom and laugh at him
but there was no way he would move or crack a smile.
After awhile she would shake him and say "Ern, stop
that!" but he still wouldn't move, blink or crack a
smile. He pretended he was dead and in his coffin!
One of his favorite
remarks during a sermon would be about the fellow looking
down at his friend lying in the coffin and saying,
"that's just the shell, the nut's in heaven!",
as he pointed upward and laughed.
His sermons were full of
humour and amusing anecdotes. It would be pretty hard to
fall asleep during one of his sermons because he kept
your interest.
He wasn't a man who
physically demonstrated affection but I suppose most men
didn't in those days.
When he was a young boy he
had burned his left hand on a hot stove so had hard scar
tissue on the palm of that hand.
He loved Classical music
and had many 78 records with all the well known operas
and Classical Singers. I seem to remember Texaco having
an afternoon of Classical music he listened to on
weekends. He used to listen to the radio on a Saturday or
Sunday afternoon to the Boston Pop's orchestra and the
operas. Some of his favorite singers were Richard Crooks,
Caruso, Marion Anderson, John Charles Thomas, Jan Peerce,
Gladys Swarthout, Kenny Baker, Lily Pons. Chopin, Brahms,
etc. were among his favorite composers.
He was a very generous man
to other people. He never "gave" Bill and I
money. We had to earn it and if we did borrow money from
him we had to pay it back in good time. He taught us to
do things right or not at all.
He was a slow eater and
wouldn't let Bill or me leave the table until he was
finished!! He prolonged it by chewing his food many times
before swallowing and was no doubt enjoying every moment
of tormenting us!!
Also in 1935, following the lead of his
friends and mentors Aberhart and Manning, EG sought and won
election as Social Credit Member of Parliament for the
Macleod riding, beginning his long and distinguished career
in politics.
During the Second World War he was made
minister emeritus of his Vulcan church, but continued to make
his home in Vulcan and to preach occasionally both in Vulcan
and in Calgary, where he at times substituted for Premier E.
C. Manning on the 'Back to the Bible Hour' national radio
program.
During his parliamentary career he was
part of important House of Commons committees. They included
the Committee on the Defence of Canada Regulations during the
war years. Sadly, it was in 1943 his son Harry, was killed in
action over Germany while serving with the RCAF.
Harry, Hilda, Ruth, EG - Liz and Bill
in front
EG's CBC national radio address "My Son is Missing"
EG also served on the Committee on
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and on the
controversial Canadian Flag Committee. He was one of the main
engineers of the 1952 upset that toppled the coalition
government of B.C. and brought about a Social Credit
administration. EG was a national president of the Social
Credit party and also in 1952 was a parliamentary advisor to
the Canadian delegation at a United Nations meeting in Paris,
France. He was priviledged to be introduced to royalty on
more than one occassion.
Socred Party members | the
UN Delegation | King
George VI & Queen Elizabeth in the Canadian Parliament -
1938
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In, 1959, a year after his
defeat in the federal election, he turned to
provincial politics and was elected to the
legislature as a Member of the Legislative Assembly
for Alberta representing the High River-Okotoks
constituency. In May 1963 his long and fruitful
political career came to an end when he failed to win
renomination as the Social Credit candidate in High River-Okotoks. EG had
served as a trustee of the Alberta Bible College for
many years and received from the college, an honorary
doctor of Divinity degree. In 1962 he became
President of the college. On his last day of service
he placed a poem on his desk before heading home for
the evening:
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We mutter and we
sputter,
We fume and we spurt;
We mumble and grumble,
Our feelings get hurt;
We can't understand things,
Our vision grows dim,
When all that we need is
A moment with Him.
Rev. Ernest G. Hansell,
D.D. M.P. had a
stroke that evening and died in Calgary Friday, December 10,
1965, at age 70.
Many tributes were received from those
whose lives he had touched including many with whom he had
served in politics and in ministry.
A letter from Prime Minister, John G.
Diefenbaker - then Leader of the Opposition
A poem for
Hilda
