Career
He was Private Secretary to Sir John A. Macdonald from 1882 to 1891 and Assistant Clerk to the Privy Council & Under Secretary of State for Canada from 1896 to 1926. From 1909 to 1925, he was the first permanent under-secretary of State for External Affairs. He was later knighted as a Knight Commander of the same order.
Sir Joseph tells the story of his conversion to the Roman Catholic faith in Why I Became a Catholic, published privately in 1921, and republished by Ignatius Press in 2001.
