II.

Early Life

Lester Bowles Pearson was born in Newton Brook (now part of Toronto), Ontario, in 1897. His father, Edwin Arthur Pearson, a Methodist minister, took his family along on his journeys as itinerant preacher through Ontario and western Canada. Pearson's background gave him deep religious convictions and an old-fashioned morality. His father inspired in him a deep concern for people and a boundless curiosity.

Pearson attended public school and completed his college preparatory studies in Peterborough and in Hamilton, Ontario. He entered Victoria College at the University of Toronto in 1913. He remained there until World War I (1914-1918) broke out and then enlisted in the university's ambulance corps, which was attached to British forces in Greece. Later, Pearson served with the Canadian army, and toward the end of the war he was commissioned flight lieutenant in the royal flying corps. He was injured in a crash during his first solo flight and was returned to Canada as a training instructor.

When the war ended, Pearson resumed his studies at Victoria College and received his bachelor's degree in history in 1919. In 1921 he resumed his studies in history through a Massey Foundation fellowship. He entered Saint John's College at England's University of Oxford, where he won recognition as an athlete and student. In 1923 Pearson received his bachelor's degree at Oxford, and in 1924 Pearson was appointed lecturer in history at the University of Toronto. The following year he married one of his students, Maryon Elspeth Moody. In 1927 he was appointed assistant professor of history.