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John Abbott Biography & Facts

Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott (March 12, 1821 – October 30, 1893) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the third prime minister of Canada from 1891 to 1892. He held office as the leader of the Conservative Party. Abbott was born in what is now Saint-André-d'Argenteuil, Quebec. He studied law at McGill University and became one of Montreal's best-known lawyers, later returning to McGill as a professor of law and earning a Doctor of Civil Law degree. He was perhaps best known for his successful defence of the perpetrators of the St. Albans Raid. Abbott involved himself in politics from a young age, signing the Montreal Annexation Manifesto in 1849 – which he later regretted – and winning election to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada in 1860. In the lead-up to Confederation he was a prominent advocate for the rights of English-speaking Quebecers. In the 1867 federal election, Abbott was elected to the new House of Commons of Canada as a member of the Conservative Party. A telegram leaked from his office played a key part in the Pacific Scandal of 1873, which led to the downfall of John A. Macdonald's first government. Abbott was appointed to the Senate in 1887, in order to become leader of the Government in the Senate. He became prime minister in June 1891 following Macdonald's death in office. He was the first native-born Canadian prime minister, both Macdonald and Alexander Mackenzie having been born in Scotland. Abbott was 70 years old at the time, and served only until November 1892 when he retired due to ill health. He died the following year. Early life Abbott was born in St. Andrews, Lower Canada (now Saint-André-d'Argenteuil, Quebec), to Harriet (née Bradford) and the Rev. Joseph Abbott, an Anglican missionary from Little Strickland, England. In 1849, Abbott married Mary Martha Bethune (1823–1898), a relative of Dr. Norman Bethune, a daughter of Anglican clergyman and McGill acting president John Bethune, and a granddaughter of the Presbyterian minister John Bethune. The couple had four sons and four daughters, many of whom died without descendants. Their eldest surviving son, William Abbott, married the daughter of Colonel John Hamilton Gray, a Father of Confederation and premier of Prince Edward Island. Abbott was also the great-grandfather of Canadian actor Christopher Plummer and the first cousin (once removed) of Maude Abbott, one of Canada's earliest female medical graduates and an expert on congenital heart disease. Abbott was an Orangeman and Freemason. Military service Abbott had served in the local militia “since boyhood”, being appointed an Ensign in the 2nd Montreal Militia Battalion in 1847. In 1849 he was a signatory to the Montreal Annexation Manifesto, calling for union of the Canadas with the United States, resulting in the withdrawal of his commission in the militia. By 1850 however, he was reinstated and appointed a Captain in the 4th Montreal Militia Battalion. His recruitment of a battalion of 300 men, known as the 11th Argenteuil Rangers, during the Trent Affair of 1861 may have been designed to atone for what he later described as the “sins of youth” and to enhance his political credentials, as much as to express his concern for his country's safety. On March 14, 1862, he was appointed Major in the 11th (Argenteuil Rifles) Volunteer Militia, being promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel on March 21. He commanded the regiment on the border multiple times throughout the Fenian Raids, on March 8, 1866, they were called out for active service and were stationed in various villages throughout Argenteuil. On June 11, 1866, the Rangers were called out to serve at Cornwall, and then Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, and a reporter from Montreal stated: "I learned on Sunday afternoon that troops were to be sent to St. Johns [Saint-Jean] by special train; and managed to procure permission to come out with them. The troops sent forward were a part of the force recently garrisoning Cornwall, a portion of the 25th Regt. under Col. Fan, and the Argenteuil Rangers under Lieut. Col. The Hon. J.J.C. Abbott." Abbott retired from the militia as a Lieutenant Colonel, commanding the 11th Battalion, on June 22, 1883. Taunted by his political opponents in March 1889 for his “disloyalty” in 1849, he explained that he considered his military service, and his commission as an officer and later commanding officer of the 11th Argenteuil Battalion of militia, to be evidence that his youthful error had been forgiven. Legal career Abbott graduated as a Bachelor of Civil Law from McGill College (now McGill University) in Montreal in 1847, and in the same year was initiated in the St. Paul's Masonic Lodge, No. 374, E.R., in Montreal. In 1867, he graduated as a Doctor of Civil Law (DCL). Most of his legal practice was in corporate law; however, his most celebrated court case was the defence of at first fourteen, then upon release and recapture, four of those fourteen Confederate agents who had raided St. Albans, Vermont, from Canadian soil during the American Civil War. Abbott successfully argued that the Confederates were belligerents rather than criminals and therefore should not be extradited. He began lecturing in commercial and criminal law at McGill in 1853, and in 1855 he became a professor and dean of its Faculty of Law, where Wilfrid Laurier, a future prime minister of Canada, was among his students. He continued in this position until 1880. In 1862, he was made Queen's Counsel. Upon his retirement, McGill named him emeritus professor, and in 1881 appointed him to its Board of Governors. Politics Early involvement In 1849, he signed the Montreal Annexation Manifesto calling for Canada to join the United States, an action which he regretted later as a youthful error. He eventually joined the Loyal Orange Lodge of British North America, well known as a pro-British organization. Abbott first ran for Canada's Legislative Assembly in 1857 in the Argenteuil district, northwest of Montreal. Defeated, he challenged the election results on the grounds of voting list irregularities and was eventually awarded the seat in 1860. He served as solicitor general for Lower Canada (Quebec) representing the liberal administration of John Sandfield Macdonald and Louis Sicotte, from 1862 until 1863. He reluctantly supported Canada's confederation, fearing the reduction of the political power of Lower Canada's English-speaking minority. In 1865, he converted to a conservative. His proposal to protect the electoral borders of 12 English Quebec constituencies was eventually incorporated into the British North America Act, 1867. National politics Abbott was elected to the House of Commons in 1867 as member for Argenteuil. He was removed from his seat by petition in 1874 following his involvement in the Pacific Scandal. He narrowly lost the 1878 election, then won in February 1880, only to have his victory declared void because of bribery allegations. He was,.... Discover the John Abbott popular books. Find the top 100 most popular John Abbott books.