Louis Henry Davies
1870s Premier of PEI and Chief Justice of Canada from 1918 to 1924 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1870s Premier of PEI and Chief Justice of Canada from 1918 to 1924 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir Louis Henry Davies KCMG PC (May 4, 1845 – May 1, 1924) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman and politician, and judge from the province of Prince Edward Island. In a public career spanning six decades, he served as the third premier of Prince Edward Island, a federal Member of Parliament and Cabinet minister, and as both a Puisne Justice and the sixth Chief Justice of Canada.
Sir Louis Henry Davies | |
|---|---|
Hon. Sir Davies, c. 1903 | |
| 3rd Premier of Prince Edward Island | |
| In office August 15, 1876 – April 25, 1879 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Lieutenant Governor | Robert Hodgson |
| Preceded by | Lemuel Owen |
| Succeeded by | William Wilfred Sullivan |
| Leader of the Prince Edward Island Liberal Party | |
| In office 1876 – June 20, 1882 | |
| Preceded by | Robert Haythorne |
| Succeeded by | John Yeo |
| Member of the General Assembly of Prince Edward Island for 4th Kings | |
| In office 1872 – August 10, 1876 | |
| Preceded by | None |
| Succeeded by | James Robertson |
| Member of the General Assembly of Prince Edward Island for 5th Queens | |
| In office August 10, 1876 – April 2, 1879 | |
| Preceded by | Frederick Brecken |
| Succeeded by | Neil McLeod |
| Member of the Canadian Parliament for Queen's County | |
| In office June 20, 1882 – February 27, 1883 | |
| Preceded by | James Colledge Pope Frederick de Sainte-Croix Brecken |
| In office February 27, 1883 – August 19, 1884 | |
| In office August 19, 1884 – February 22, 1887 | |
| In office February 22, 1887 – June 23, 1896 | |
| Succeeded by | abolished 1892 |
| Member of the Canadian Parliament for West Queen's | |
| In office June 23, 1896 – September 25, 1901 | |
| Preceded by | created 1892 |
| Succeeded by | Donald Farquharson |
| 6th Chief Justice of Canada | |
| In office October 23, 1918 – May 1, 1924 | |
| Nominated by | Robert Borden |
| Preceded by | Charles Fitzpatrick |
| Succeeded by | Francis Alexander Anglin |
| Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada | |
| In office September 25, 1901 – October 23, 1918 | |
| Nominated by | Wilfrid Laurier |
| Preceded by | George Edwin King |
| Succeeded by | Pierre-Basile Mignault |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 4, 1845 Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island Colony |
| Died | May 1, 1924 (aged 78) Ottawa, Ontario, Dominion of Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Other political affiliations | Prince Edward Island Liberal Party |
| Spouse |
Susan Wiggins (m. 1872) |
| Relations | Benjamin Davies |
| Children | 7 |
| Residence | Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island |
| Alma mater | Prince of Wales College (now part of the University of Prince Edward Island) |
| Occupation | lawyer, judge, business person, and publisher |
| Profession | Politician |
| Cabinet | Attorney General (1876–1879) Solicitor General (1869) Minister of Marine and Fisheries (1896–1901) |
Davies was born in Charlottetown, the son of Benjamin Davies and Kezia Attwood Watts. He attended Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown.[1]
In July, 1872, he married Susan Wiggins, a daughter of Dr. A. V. G. Wiggins. She was a member of the Humane Society, the Women's Canadian Historical Society, and similar organizations. The couple had two sons and three daughters.[2]
Davies read law at the Inner Temple in London. He was called to bar in England in 1866, and to the bar of Prince Edward Island a year later. He served as lead counsel for the Prince Edward Island Land Commission, which was established in 1875 to settle the problem of absentee land ownership and to provide tenants of the Island with clear title to their lands.[citation needed]
In 1877, Davies was one of the Canadian counsel who appeared on behalf of the British Government before the Halifax Fisheries Commission, appointed under the Treaty of Washington (1871) to resolve outstanding issues, including fishing rights.[1] The Commission gave an award directing the United States to pay $5,500,000 to the British Government.[3]
Davies was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1880, and knighted by Queen Victoria in 1897.[4][1]
Davies was first elected to the House of Assembly as a Liberal in 1872 just prior to Prince Edward Island entering Canadian confederation.[1] With the issue of Confederation resolved and the land question settled as a result of Canada's promise to fund land reform and the passage of the Land Purchase Act, the major issue remaining on the island was that of school funding and whether the school system should be entirely secular and public or whether separate schools for Catholics should be permitted. The issue divided both parties, and had led to the collapse of one government.[citation needed]
Following the defeat of the Conservative government of Lemuel Cambridge Owen in 1876, Davies established a coalition government of Protestant Liberals and Conservatives with himself as Premier and Attorney-General.[citation needed] The Davies government was formed to enact a Public Schools Act which made school attendance compulsory, and created a non-sectarian public school system.[citation needed] The act was passed in 1877 and, with the issue around which the coalition had been formed having been resolved, the coalition itself began to unravel.[citation needed] Davies' government reformed the civil service and brought in financial reforms before being defeated by the Conservatives in a Motion of No Confidence in 1879.[citation needed]
Davies won a seat in the House of Commons of Canada in the 1882 federal election as a Liberal.[citation needed] When the Liberals formed government after the 1896 election under Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Davies became minister of marine and fisheries, and during 1898–1899 he was a member of the Anglo-American joint high commission at Quebec.[5]
In 1901, Davies was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. He was appointed Chief Justice in 1918. He was the oldest person to be appointed Chief Justice, at the age of 73 years, 172 days. Davies held the position until his death in Ottawa in 1924.[citation needed]
As of 2020, he is the last Chief Justice of Canada to have previously served in elected office. He is also, as of 2020, the only Prince Edward Islander to have served on the Supreme Court.[citation needed] The Prince Edward Island Supreme Court building in Charlottetown is named in his honour.[citation needed] Also named for him is Davies Point, at the meeting of Hastings and Alice Arms on Observatory Inlet in British Columbia; the naming was done at the time of his appointment to the Supreme Court,[6] as was also Davies Bay, at the head of Work Channel just east of Prince Rupert.[7]
| 1887 Canadian federal election: Queen's County | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Elected | |||||
| Liberal | Louis Henry Davies | 4,382 | X | |||||
| Independent Liberal | William Welsh | 4,314 | – | X | ||||
| Conservative | Donald Ferguson | 3,599 | ||||||
| Conservative | William Campbell | 3,430 | ||||||
| 1891 Canadian federal election: Queen's County | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Elected | |||||
| Liberal | Louis Henry Davies | 4,006 | X | |||||
| Independent Liberal | William Welsh | 3,854 | X | |||||
| Conservative | Patrick Blake | 3,669 | ||||||
| Conservative | Donald Ferguson | 3,521 | ||||||
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