Edward
Blake (1883-1912) (*)
Blake
was born in Adelaide Township, County of Middlesex, Upper Canada,
son of a leading lawyer and legal education pioneer William
Hume Blake. In 1871 he became the second Premier of Ontario.
He joined Alexander Mackenzie's Liberal government in 1873.
He served as Minister without Portfolio (1873-74), Minister
of Justice (1875-77) and was President of the Privy Council
(1877-78); he was also Leader of the Liberal Party in (1880-82).
He resigned the party leadership in 1887 and left Canadian politics
1891. He resumed his career in the British House of Commons
and returned to Canada for his retirement in 1906.
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General
Sir Isaac Brock (1769-1812)
Brock
was born at St. Peter Port, Island of Guernsey. He arrived in
Canada in 1802. In 1811 he was promoted to Major-General. Prior
to serving in the War of 1812 he was named President and Administrator
of Upper Canada. He was killed in battle by a sharpshooter during
the American Battery at Queenston Heights and is remembered
in Canadian History as a heroe of Upper Canada.
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George
Brown (1818-1880) (*)
Brown
was born at Alloa, Scotland and arrived in Toronto in 1843 where
he entered the newspaper business. In 1844 he started the Toronto
Globe which defended many Reform interests. In 1864 Brown joined
forces with Conservative leaders Sir John A. Macdonald, Sir
Alexander T. Galt and Sir George-Étienne Cartier and
formed a coalition which helped propel the interests of the
Confederation. He was an important participant in the Charlottetown
Conference and the Quebec Conference. He resigned the coalition
in 1865. Brown ran in the first federal elections of 1867 but
was defeated. He was appointed to the Senate in 1874. He then
left Parliament and continued work on his newspaper. Later in
life he was active in Ontario party politics. He died when he
was shot by a disgruntled former Globe employee.
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Sir
Alexander Campbell (1822-1892)
Alexander
was born at the Village of Hedon, Yorkshire, England and became
John A. Macdonald's second articled student at the young age
of 17. He rose to become Macdonald's law partner and was also
successful in business. He was called to the Senate in 1867.
Thereafter, he held several positions including: Commissioner
of Crownlands, Minister of the Interior, Receiver General and
Minister of Justice to name a few. He was leader of the Opposition
Party and he attended the Quebec Conference and was named a
Father of the Confederation. In 1887 he became Lieutenant-Governor
of Ontario.
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Col.
Sir Casimir Stanislaus Gzowski(1813-1898) (*)
Born
in St. Petersberg (Leningrad), Russia. He came to Canada in
1841. He was an engineer and became a superintendent of public
works of the Province of Canada. In 1853 he started Gzowski
and Company. He built part of St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad
and also a portion of the Grand Trunk Railway Line. He was one
of the founders of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers and
also its first president. He served the Canadian militia as
both Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel.
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Sir
Francis Bond Head (1793-1875)
Bond
Head was born at Higham, Kent, England and was appointed Lieutenant-Governor
of Upper Canada in 1835. He served with the Royal Engineers.
He retired as a Major and authored several travel books. He
sympathized with Reformers upon his arrival in Canada but when
they censured him he dissolved the House, ran and won at the
polls in 1836. He soon grew to oppose the Reformers. He was
connected to the Rebellion of 1837 in Upper Canada and was recalled
from his post in 1838 and did not serve in office again.
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The
Marquis of Lansdowne (1845-1927) (Lansdowne, Henry Charles Keith
Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marques of) (*)
Lansdowne
was born at Lansdowne House, London, England. He was one of
the Lords of the Treasury from 1868 to 1872. For the next 2
years he served as the Under-Secretary for India. He was Governor-General
of India until 1893 and became Secretary of State for War from
1895-1900, Foreign Secretary from 1900-1905 and Minister Without
Portfolio from 1915- 1916. He was Governor-general of Canada
from 1883-88 during the difficult period of the North-West Rebellion.
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Sir
John Alexander Macdonald (1815-1891)
Macdonald
was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He came to Canada in 1820. He
was the first Prime Minister of Canada and took office on July
1, 1867. He was one of the principal creators of the British
North America Act under which the provinces were united to form
Canada as a Confederation. During his first term, 4 provinces
(Manitoba, Northwest Territories [now Saskatchewan and Alberta],
British Columbia and Price Edward Island) were added to the
original four (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec)
and the Intercolonial Railway was begun. Mackenzie succeeded
Macdonald as Prime Minister from 1873-1878, but he returned
to power and served as PM until his death in 1891. During his
second term he completed the transcontinental CPR (Canadian
Pacific Railway) and promoted the protective tariff of Canadian
manufacturing through high tariffs on foreign imports.
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Alexander McKenzie (1822-1892)
Mackenzie
was born in Dunkeld, Perthshire, Scotland and arrived in Canada
in 1842. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province
of Canada in 1861. He was elected to the House of Commons and
the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1867. Mackenzie formed
the first Liberal administration in 1873. In 1880 he resigned
his post as Leader of the Liberal Party. He was the second Prime
Minister of Canada from 1873-78.
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Walter
Moberly (1832-1915)
Moberly
was born in Steeple Aston, England and came to Canada at a young
age. He became Superintendent of Public Works of British Columbia
in 1859. He was Assistant Surveyor General of BC from 1864-66.
He left for the United States for the following four years and
was involved in railroad exploration and building. Upon his
return and was put in charge of surveys for the Rocky Mountain
and British Columbia sections of the CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway)
in 1871. After this he found employment as an Engineer in Manitoba.
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Sir
Oliver Mowat (1820-1903)
Mowat
was born at Kingston, Upper Canada and became John Macdonald's
first articled law student. He was called to the bar in 1841.
He sympathized with the Reform Party and he sat in the Assembly
of the Province of Canada from 1858-1864. He participated in
the Quebec Conference and was a Father of Confederation. He
became Chancellor of Ontario until 1872 when he became Premier.
He held the position and was also Attorney General until 1896
when he was appointed to the Senate and became the Federal Minister
of Justice. He was knighted in 1892 and became Lieutenant-Governor
of Ontario in 1897. He retired and accepted the Lieutenant-Governorship
of Ontario, a position he held until his death. He was the first
significant provincial-rights advocate and successfully challenged
John A. Macdonald and his government to change the view of Canada
and the role of its provinces.
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Sir
John Beverley Robinson (1791-1863)
Robinson
was born at Berthier, Lower Canada. He was educated in part
under John Strachan. In 1812 he was militia officer under Isaac
Brock. He became Acting Attorney General in 1813, was Solicitor
General after the War and then returned to England to finish
his legal studies. Once he finished his studies he was appointed
Solicitor General once more and was elected to the Assembly
in 1820. He was a prominent member of the Family Compact. He
acted as Attorney-General until 1829, when he became Chief Justice,
Speaker of the Legislative Council and President of the Executive
Council. He was Chief Justice until 1862 was was the first president
of the Court of Error and Appeal.
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Sir Collingwood
Schreiber (1831-1918)
Schreiber
was born in Essex, England. He came to Canada in 1852. In 1873
he became Chief Engineer of the Government Railways and in 1880
he succeeded Sir Sandford Fleming as Chief Engineer of the Canadian
Pacific Railway. In 1892 he was named Chief Engineer of the
Department of Railways and Canals. In 1905 he was appointed
Chief Engineer to the Dominion Government.
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Governor
John Graves Simcoe (1752-1806) (*)
Simcoe
was born at Cotterstock, Northamptonshire, England. He was Commander
of the Queen's Rangers during 1777-1781 of the American Revolution.
In 1790 he was elected to the House of Commons and a year later
he became the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. He
arrived in Canada in 1792. He founded York, now Toronto, and
he laid a foundation for a road system. In 1794 he was made
Major-General. He left Canada in 1796 to become the Governor
of Santo Domingo (now Haiti) and then was Commander of the Western
District in England. In 1806 he became Commander-In-Chief of
India.
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Bishop
John Strachan (1778-1867) (*)
Bishop
Strachan was born at Aberdeen, Scotland. Strachan was ordained
in 1803 by Bishop Jacob Mountain. He arrived in Canada in 1799.
He started a school in Cornwall, Upper Canada and he accepted
the rectorship of York, now Toronto in 1812. He was active in
helping against American influence in Canada during the War
of 1812. Many of his former pupils held important posts in government.
He was made Executive Councillor in 1817 and Legislative Councillor
in 1820. He strongly defended an Anglican dominance in politics
and education and was removed from the Executive Council in
1835 by Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Colbourne. He received
another political blow when the Family Compact was destroyed
by the union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada in 1841. In 1839
he became Bishop of Toronto. He opened Trinity College in 1852.
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Sir
John Sparrow David Thompson (1845-1894) (*)
Thompson
was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia. He became Attorney-General
in 1878. In 1885 he became Minister of Justice in Sir John A.
Macdonald's government and was also Member of Parliament for
Antigonish. In the position of Minister of Justice he handled
the debate on the Execution of Louis Riel. In 1892 he became
the 4th Prime Minister of Canada upon Sir John Joseph Caldwell
Abbot's retirement at the age of 48, and held the position until
his death in 1894. A major contribution of Thompson's was the
Canadian Criminal Code of 1892.
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Sir
Charles Tupper (1821-1915)
Tupper
was born in Amherst, Nova Scotia and was one of the original
Fathers of the Confederation. After obtaining his diploma he
practiced as a doctor in Nova Scotia and was the first President
of the Canadian Medical Association. He was Provincial Secretary
from 1856 to 1860 and was Prime Minister of Nova Scotia from
1864 to 1867. He held positions such as President of the Privy
Council (1870-72), Minister of Inland Revenue (1872-73), and
Minister of Customs (1873); during John A. Macdonald's first
term in office. During the next term he served as Minister of
Public Works (1878-79), and Minister of Railways and Canals
(1879-84). In the 1887-88 period he served as Minister of Finance.
Tupper was Prime Minister in 1896 and served for only 10 weeks
when he was forced to retire after suffering political defeat
in the general election.
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