A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose
1880. He then entered the law office of his brother, Ernest Pacaud, well
5595 words | Chapter 130
known in Quebec city as a man of ability and learning, but the spirit of
activity within him was such as to induce him to forsake the law for the
equally honorable and more exciting profession of journalism, and
accordingly, in 1881, he became editor of _Le Patriote_, published in
Bay City, Michigan, by another brother, H. A. Pacaud. In 1884 he
returned to Canada, and took the editorial chair of _Le Progress_,
published in Windsor by still another brother, Aurèle Pacaud, and has
edited this paper ever since. _Le Progress_ is the only French paper
published in Western Ontario, and has a high standing among the reform
papers of the province. At the last general election Mr. Pacaud was
returned by the Reformers of North Essex as their representative in the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and there is no member of that body who
tries more to advance the interests of his constituents than he does. A
fact which may be taken as strong evidence of the magnetism and personal
popularity of Mr. Pacaud is this, that although such a young man—young
in years as well as in political life—and although resident but a short
time in a county which never before elected a Liberal, yet he defeated
Mr. Sol. White, who was so well known as the leader of the Opposition’s
first lieutenant. The attention which Mr. Pacaud has given to his
parliamentary duties, and the fluency of his speech when he has
addressed the house, are evidences to his friends that, although the
youngest member of the house, Mr. Pacaud is destined to make his mark,
and possibly to rise to a yet higher position in the future. Mr. Pacaud
is the son of Philippe Napoléon Pacaud, who so powerfully seconded
Papineau, in 1837 and 1838, by putting his life and his immense wealth
at the service of the great cause of his fellow countrymen, and is one
of five brothers, three of whom are journalists, and two lawyers. Every
reader of Canadian history knows the name of Pacaud, the bearers of this
name having distinguished themselves in many ways. The Pacaud family,
indeed, is well known as one of the oldest and most distinguished in the
province of Quebec.
* * * * *
=Mowat, Hon. Oliver=, Q.C., LL.D., Premier of the province of Ontario,
is descended of a stock that has given Canada many of its foremost men
in almost every public department in the land, namely, the
Canadian-Scotch. His father, John Mowat, was from Canisbay,
Caithness-shire, Scotland. He was a soldier who had seen stern service
during the Peninsular wars. His wife, Helen Levack, was also a native of
Caithness-shire. They came to Canada in 1816, and settled in Kingston,
where their son Oliver was born, on July 22, 1820. His education was as
good as the schools of that city afforded at that date. At about the age
of seventeen he entered the law office of Mr. (now Sir) John A.
Macdonald, who, a young man but five years his senior, had just been
admitted to the bar, and had settled down to practise his profession. At
the outset of his student life young Mowat was called on to serve as a
volunteer in the rebellion of 1837. It may well be supposed that the
state of parties and affairs in Canada to which his attention was thus
early and practically called must have afforded him food for thought,
and had much effect in shaping his after course. It is certainly
noteworthy, as indicating both mental independence and moral earnestness
of no common order, that, born as he was of Conservative parents,
surrounded with Conservative influences, and trained in the study of a
profession which is more closely related to politics than any other, in
the office and under the direct influence of a man whose brilliant
talents and personal magnetism have long been and still are the
strongest forces on the side of Conservatism in Canada, Oliver Mowat
should have chosen that broad-minded, moderate Liberalism, of whose
principles he has ever since been so able an exponent, and so steadfast
a promoter. He was called to the bar in 1842, and commenced his practice
in Kingston, but very soon afterwards came to Toronto, where he has ever
since resided. At a time when the line of demarcation between common law
and equity was much more clearly drawn than at present, Mr. Mowat chose
the latter branch. He rose quickly to eminence at the Chancery bar. In
1856 he was appointed by the government of which Hon. John A. Macdonald
was a member, as commissioner for consolidating the Statutes of Canada
and of Upper Canada respectively, a position which he held until 1859.
In 1857 he was elected to parliament as member for South Oxford, and
continued to represent that constituency until 1864. Upon the fall of
the Macdonald-Cartier government, in 1867, he was selected, though he
had been but one year in the house, to fill the office of provincial
secretary in the Brown-Dorion administration. He held the portfolio of
postmaster-general in the Coalition government formed by Hon. John
Sandfield Macdonald, in 1861, a position which he retained until the
defeat of that government, in 1864. He was also a member of the
memorable Union Conference which met at Quebec in 1864, and framed the
confederation scheme; but his acceptance, a few months later, of the
vice-chancellorship of Upper Canada deprived the framers of the
Confederation Act of his services in the subsequent deliberations. When
the Dual Representation Act compelled the retirement of Messrs. Blake
and Mackenzie from the leadership of the Ontario legislature, in 1872,
he was called on by the lieutenant-governor, acting no doubt on the
advice of the retiring premier, to form an administration. His descent
from the bench and re-entrance into political life gave occasion for a
good deal of discussion at the time, on the part of those who thought,
or affected to think, that the purity of the judicial ermine must be in
some way contaminated by the change. The answer, if any is needed, to
those who think that the position of head of the Provincial government
is one requiring either mental or moral qualifications of a lower order
than those of even the chancellor’s bench, is to be found in the record
of sixteen years of able, upright, and progressive government of the
affairs of Ontario. Those must be wilfully purblind who cannot now see
that the judicial temperament and habit, with all of mental training and
capacity, and of moral integrity they imply, furnish the very best of
qualifications for the responsible and honorable position of virtual
ruler of a great province. Sound discretion, marked ability, and
sterling integrity have characterised Hon. Mr. Mowat’s career in each
division of his professional and official life. As a lawyer, his talents
quickly gained recognition, and, reinforced by his clear judgment and
scrupulous conscientiousness, soon won for him a high place in the
confidence of the profession and of the court in which he practised.
Though not fluent, he was energetic, forcible, and convincing as a
pleader. His patience was admirable, his industry untiring, his
fertility in resources great. He was said to be endowed in large measure
with the power of “thinking out” a subject, and was believed to be
stronger in ability to go to the bottom of the subject than any of his
contemporaries. As a judge, he exhibited qualities of both head and
heart which, while they won for him respect and admiration, gained also
esteem and friendship in high degree. His great business and executive
ability quickly showed itself in the improved conduct and quicker
despatch of the business of the court. As the head of the government,
his record has long been before the people of Ontario. The mere
enumeration of the reforms that have been effected, and the beneficial
acts passed during his _régime_, would occupy more space than we have at
our disposal. The judicious settlement of the vexed question of the
municipal loan fund; the liberal and salutary provisions of the local
Railway Acts; the consolidation of the Provincial Statutes; the local
option principle reduced to practice in the Liquor Acts; the General
Incorporation Act, by which so much economy of time has been secured in
the Legislative Assembly; the well-considered and systematic aid to
public charities; the changes by which the education department has been
relieved of irresponsible and bureaucratic character, and put in charge
of a responsible minister; the progressive legislation in connection
with higher education and the University of Toronto; the introduction of
the ballot in political and municipal elections; the liberalising of the
franchise up to the verge of universal suffrage; all these, and many
other legislative reforms wrought under this _régime_, will be lasting
monuments of his statesmanship. Mr. Mowat’s legislation, though
uniformly Liberal and progressive, has never been sensational. His
opponents have sometimes charged him with timidity. That wise caution
that refuses to move blindly under irresponsible pressure, that waits to
look on all sides of a question, and goes forward only when the way is
made clear, is certainly his. But that cowardly fear of censure which
shrinks and hesitates on the brink of what is seen to be right and just,
for fear of consequences, cannot be laid to his charge. No really urgent
legislation in the interests of Liberalism and progress has been unduly
delayed through his fault. The manner in which he has met and
vanquished, not only in the local political arena, but in the highest
court of the realm, Sir John A. Macdonald, with all the power and
prestige of his own high reputation and the Dominion premiership at his
back, sufficiently attests his courage in doing what he deems the right.
The vindication of provincial rights in the matters of the Boundary, the
Rivers and Streams Bills, and the license question, are services
rendered by Oliver Mowat which will long be remembered by a grateful
province. As leader of the Ontario government, in the house and out, Mr.
Mowat’s address and tactics are admirable. Clear-headed and logical in
debate; cautious in committing himself, yet, when occasion demands,
prompt in decision and firm in action; uniformly courteous and affable,
yet ready and keen in retort, and often turning the tables on an
opponent most effectively; keeping himself thoroughly informed on all
important questions; exhibiting on all occasions a sound judgment,
combined with a ready wit, he inspires his colleagues and followers with
confidence, and generally holds at bay or discomfits his most eager
assailants. In some of these respects, notably in the extent and fulness
of his knowledge of the subjects under debate, and in the soundness and
acumen of his opinions on juridical and jurisdictional questions, his
record compares most favorably with that of his great antagonist, the
veteran leader of the Dominion government. To say that he may have
sometimes made mistakes in judgment and policy, and that he has not
uniformly steered clear of the dangerous reefs which abound in the
streams of patronage, is but to admit that he is human and consequently
fallible. Hon. Mr. Mowat has always taken a deep interest in social and
religious questions. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and was
for many years president of the Evangelical Alliance. Like most men who
have wrought earnestly and conscientiously for the public good in any
sphere, his philanthropy and integrity are, no doubt, deep-based upon
the firm foundation of religious principle. It has been sneeringly
insinuated that he has claimed for himself the high honor of being a
“Christian politician;” but it is unnecessary to say that the charge is
without foundation. It seems to have originated in a perversion of a
hypothetical allusion in one of his speeches to what might be considered
the duty of a Christian politician, in some specified case. To arrogate
to himself the distinctive title was farthest from his thought, and a
boast would be as repugnant to his good sense and taste as to the
modesty for which he is distinguished. That he is a faithful and devout
member of an influential Christian church is a crime which will be
readily forgiven him in view of the great services he has rendered to
society and the state.
* * * * *
=Desaulniers, Denis Benjamin William=, Nicolet, Governor of the College
of Physicians and Surgeons of the Province of Quebec, was born on the
5th of December, 1839, at St. Anthony de la Rivière du Loup, near
Maskinonge. His father, Antoine Lesieur Desaulniers, was an
agriculturist of Rivière du Loup. His mother was Maria Emelie Beland.
The Lesieur-Desaulniers were a numerous family, and inhabited a large
portion of the parishes of Yamachiche and Rivière du Loup. Our present
subject was brought up with his family until the age of thirteen, and in
the month of September, 1853, he entered the seminary of Nicolet, where
he made his classical course with great success. In the month of May,
1860, he obtained from the Board of Physicians his license for the study
of medicine, and studied two years under the patronage of Dr. Alexis
Milette. In 1862, in the month of September, he entered the Laval
University at Quebec to complete his course, and was the most solid and
substantial of all the students of his time. During his last two years
he carried off the first “Morin,” this prize having been only twice
offered to the pupils whilst pursuing his course. On the 10th October,
1865, he was admitted to the practice of medicine, after a severe
examination before the Provincial Board of Physicians, and the same year
he established himself in the parish of Rivière du Loup, now
Louiseville. A year after, in October, 1866, being equally successful in
the practice of his profession as well as literary pursuits, he was
called to Nicolet to take charge of the seminary there, the pupils and
all connected with this important institution, a post which he still
fills. Later, upon the establishment of the convent of the Sœurs de
l’Assomption at Nicolet, he was made physician to the institution. In
1886, when L’Hotel Dieu of Nicolet was inaugurated by the Sœurs Grises
of St. Hyacinthe, he was again selected as first acting physician to the
house. Dr. Desaulniers has been very fortunate in the practice of his
profession, but his great specialty has been midwifery. He has closely
followed the progress of medicine in its many branches, and therefore is
one of the foremost physicians of the day. His unprecedented success in
the past promises a brilliant future. On the 31st of August, in the year
1881, he was appointed coroner, in conjunction with Dr. S. Ed. Badeau,
for the district of Three Rivers, and occupied this office for two
years, when he was obliged to resign to fulfil the requirements of his
profession. Seven years after Dr. Desaulniers arrival at Nicolet, the
village was raised to a town, and it then became necessary to form a
town council, of which he was chosen and elected by a large majority
first mayor of Nicolet. Of course he had everything to do, and the
greater part of the rules and regulations now in force were passed
during his administration. At the completion of his term of office he
retired, and gave himself up entirely to the practice of his profession,
which had become very extensive. In 1877, he was elected governor of the
College of Physicians and Surgeons of the province of Quebec for the
district of Three Rivers, and has held that position since that date. He
was born in the Roman Catholic religion, and has ever remained faithful
to his church principles. Dr. Desaulniers married on the 12th January,
1869, Marie Rose de Lima Proulx, second daughter of Hubert Proulx, of
Nicolet, and in May, 1879, his wife died, leaving three infant
daughters. He was married the second time, on July 13th, 1880, to Marie
Célanire Gagnon, widow of late Louis Ludger Richard, and daughter of
Antoine Gagnon, agent for the Crown lands at Arthabaskaville. In May,
1884, he again had the misfortune of losing his wife, who left an infant
daughter.
* * * * *
=King, James=, Quebec. Few men engaged in the staple trade of the port
of Quebec hold a more conspicuous position or enjoy a larger share of
public confidence and respect than the subject of this sketch, not only
for his business enterprise and success, but for his integrity in all
the relations of life. Mr. King is the Quebec member of the great
lumbering and lumber exporting firm of King Brothers and King Brothers &
Co., which are among the largest operators in the province, their
establishments being scattered all over, from the Eastern townships to
Gaspé. In fact, few commercial houses have been or are more powerful
contributors to Lower Canadian development. Their _chantiers_ and saw
mills at St. Jean Deschaillons, Lyster, Levis, River Ouelle, Cedar Hall,
Grand Pabos, and Robertson Station, give employment and support to
considerable communities, the products of whose industry, chiefly in the
shape of pine and spruce deals, are annually exported to the United
Kingdom and the continent of Europe. The firms, of which Mr. King is a
leading member, are also largely interested in the important asbestos
industry of the province of Quebec, being the proprietors of extensive
areas of asbestos-bearing lands in the eastern townships, and notably of
the “Hampden” and “Thetford Royal” mines in Thetford, Megantic county;
and Mr. King himself is a director and manager of the Asbestos Mining
and Manufacturing Company of Canada. He is further largely interested in
rural real estate, being the seigneur of the seigniories of St. Jean
Déschaillons and Lake Matapedia. He is the youngest son of the late
Charles King, of Lyster, Megantic, and was born at St. Antoine de Tilly,
in Lotbinière county, P.Q., on the 18th February, 1848. Educated at
Lennoxville, he took his degrees of B.A. in 1867, and of M.A. in 1873,
at the University of Bishop’s College, and during his university course
was a member of the college volunteer corps. In religion he belongs to
the Church of England, and has been a lay delegate to the Synod of the
diocese of Quebec. In politics he is a Liberal-Conservative, and has
frequently been pressed to offer himself for Parliamentary honors, but
has hitherto refused to accept nomination at the hands of his party,
feeling that his business engagements absorbed too much of his time and
attention. Nevertheless he has always taken a strong interest in
educational matters. His travels have extended to the United Kingdom and
the continent of Europe. He is unmarried, and a member of the Garrison
Club, Quebec.
* * * * *
=Davidson, Hon. Justice Charles Peers=, Montreal, was born at
Huntingdon, province of Quebec, where his family had long been prominent
in the development of the county, and defence of the frontier. His
grandfather, Colonel Davidson, came from Scotland, and was in command of
the Huntingdon volunteers, in which his father held a captaincy, and
which formed part of the brigade under the command of the late
Major-General Campbell. Colonel Davidson, at the commencement of the
troubles of 1837 and the following year, was sent for by the
commander-in-chief of the British forces in Canada, Sir John Colborne,
who requested him to raise a regiment. He accepted, and soon after his
return to Huntingdon, succeeded in enrolling about six hundred stalwart
men from among the farmers, most of whom were immigrants from the old
country. The regiment, which was called “The Huntingdon Frontier
Volunteers,” numbered in its ranks many men who afterwards became
prominent in political and social life. One company was stationed at
Russelltown, a second at Covey Hill, and the third as far as
Hemmingford. Colonel Davidson, for the first year, was in command, not
only of the regiment, but of the whole district; in the second year,
Colonel Campbell, subsequently major-general, assumed command of the
district, and the volunteers were enrolled in the brigade which was
afterwards under the gallant Sir George Cathcart, then only colonel, who
fell at the battle of Inkerman at the head of the 1st Dragoon Guards,
which he commanded. One company of this regiment was commanded by
Captain Reid, a veteran of Waterloo. In this company also was Sir John
Rose, the eminent statesman and financier, now of London, England. The
Huntington volunteers did good service, but were only in one action,
that of St. Regis. From the foregoing it will be seen that Justice
Davidson comes of a military family, his mother, Marion Peers, being the
daughter of the late Lieutenant Peers, of Her Majesty’s Dragoon Guards.
He went to the Huntington Academy, subsequently attended at Victoria
College, Cobourg, and thence passed to McGill University, from which he
received the degree of B.A. and M.A. in arts, and B.C.L. and D.C.L. in
law, and was for a number of years one of its fellows. Even while a
student he studied the public questions of the day, being a welcome
contributor to the press, and for a time was assistant editor on the
_Daily News_. Had he followed the profession of journalism, he would
have achieved marked success. The press proved a good training school,
and those who listened to Justice Davidson’s eloquent speeches gave him
a high place among public speakers. He studied with the present Justice
Cross, and subsequently entered that gentleman’s law firm as junior
partner. Several years ago he was created Queen’s counsel by the
Provincial government, but the Supreme Court holding that the provinces
were without authority to confer this title, he subsequently received a
new patent from the Dominion authorities. He has been a life-long
supporter of athletic exercises, having been for sometime president of
the Beaver Lacrosse Club, of the Montreal Snow-Shoe Club, and of the
Victoria Skating Club. During the _Trent_ affair in 1862, which
threatened to involve Great Britain in hostilities with the United
States, he was one of the first to enrol himself in the ranks of the
newly formed Victoria Rifles, and rose by successive promotions until he
became its commanding officer. His _bonhommie_ and dash render him very
popular in his regiment, while his pre-eminence in athletic sports and
engaging social qualities, make him as popular in society as his legal
attainments, quick perceptive faculties, convincing oratory, devoid of
florid ornamentation, did among the shrewd practical plutocrats of
Montreal. In politics Mr. Davidson was a Conservative, having been
president of the Junior Conservative Club for several years. In 1881 he
was a candidate for the Quebec parliament for Montreal Centre, but was
defeated by George Washington Stephens, a powerful opponent, by
ninety-eight votes. He married Alice, daughter of the late Wm. Mattice,
of Cornwall, who for a number of years represented Stormont in the
parliament of the united Canadas. Mr. Justice Davidson was called to the
bench of the Superior Court in June, 1887, upon the death of the late
Justice Torrance.
* * * * *
=Coursol, Captain Charles Joseph Quesnel=, St. John’s, Quebec, was born
17th August, 1856, at Montreal. His parents are Charles J. Coursol,
Q.C., M.P., and Helen Taché. The subject of this sketch was educated at
the Jesuits’ College, Montreal, taking a full classical course. He
received a commission as lieutenant in the Victoria Rifles of Canada in
October, 1877; was transferred to the 65th Batt. in November, 1880, and
promoted to a captaincy in April, 1881. He served for eighteen months
with A Battery, R.C.A., and also several months with H.M. 19th or
Princess of Wales’ Own Regiment, then stationed at Halifax. On the 21st
December, 1883, he received a commission in the Infantry School Corps,
now stationed at St. John’s, Quebec. In religion he is a Roman Catholic.
He was married on the 18th October, 1882, to E. F. Pearce Serecold,
daughter of the late Captain Pearce Serecold, of H.M. 66th regiment, and
Miss Duval, daughter of the Hon. Justice Duval. Captain Coursol is also
a grand nephew of the late Hon. F. A. Quesnel of the Legislative
Council.
* * * * *
=Pim, Richard=, Toronto. This gentleman, who was a resident of Toronto
for over fifty years, died on the morning of the 14th February, 1888, in
the seventy-eighth year of his age. He was a native of Herefordshire,
England, and spent part of his early life in Russia, whither his father
had gone to erect paper mills of the then most improved description for
the Russian government. Upon the death of his father, at Helsingfors,
near St. Petersburg, he returned to England, and married Mary Hargrave,
grand-daughter of William Lane, a poet of considerable local distinction
in Buckinghamshire. He emigrated to Canada in 1834, and during the
stirring political events of 1837, served in the militia called out to
repress the rebellion of that year, and was on guard below the Falls of
Niagara when the American steamer _Caroline_ was cut loose by a British
attacking party, and sent burning over the Falls. Mr. Pim led a quiet
life, and was well-known in Toronto.
* * * * *
=Irvine, Hon. George=, Q.C., D.C.L., one of the best known and most
eminent members of the Quebec bar, is the eldest son of the late
Lieut.-Colonel Irvine, principal A.D.C. to the Governor-General of
Canada, and grandson of the Hon. James Irvine, for many years a member
of the Executive and Legislative Councils of Lower Canada, and of the
Hon. Matthew Bell, of Three Rivers, P.Q., at one time member for St.
Maurice in the Legislature of Lower Canada, and afterwards a member of
the Legislative Council of that province. He was born at Quebec on the
16th November, 1826, and was educated at Dr. Lundy’s school in that
city. Having chosen the law as his profession, he was called to the bar
in 1848, after the usual course of study, and rapidly rose to
distinction, his services being retained in nearly every important case,
especially of a commercial nature. In partnership with the late C. G.
Holt, Q.C., afterwards judge of the sessions of the peace for the Quebec
district, and subsequently with E. H. Pemberton, he practised his
profession with steady success and honor, and in 1867 was created a Q.C.
in recognition of his leading position at the Quebec bar. Some years
previously to this, in 1863, the electors of Megantic county, P.Q., had
marked their appreciation of his abilities and exalted character, by
returning him at the general election of that year to represent them in
the Canadian House of Assembly, in which he continued to sit until
confederation, when he was returned for Megantic to the Commons, and
represented that county at Ottawa until the abolition of dual
representation and the general election of 1872, when he declined
re-election. He also represented the county in the Legislative Assembly
of the province of Quebec from confederation until January, 1876, and
during this period successively held the important Cabinet offices of
solicitor-general and attorney-general of that province in the Chauveau
and Ouimet administrations, being regarded as the leader of the English
element in those governments, and the special champion of the
English-speaking and Protestant minority in Lower Canada. In January,
1876, he resigned his seat in the Legislature, on being appointed one of
the railway commissioners for the province, which office he also
resigned in 1878, in order to present himself for re-election as a
supporter of Mr. Joly’s administration, in which he was offered, but
declined, a seat. At the general election of that year, he was again
returned to represent Megantic in the Legislative Assembly, and once
more at the general election of 1880, when he went with his leader, Mr.
Joly, into opposition to the Chapleau and Mousseau governments, until
June, 1884, when he resigned his seat on accepting the appointment of
judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court at Quebec. Throughout his public
career, Mr. Irvine was one of the most conspicuous men in the house and
before the country, and the organization and legislation of the province
of Quebec, under confederation, still bear the impress of his powerful
mind. A gentleman of wonderful tact and suavity of manner, a skilful
parliamentarian, and a man of rare executive ability, he wielded an
immense influence in the councils of that province, and on public
opinion. As a speaker and debater, he was not only remarkable for his
ready eloquence, but above all for his clearness, precision and logical
force. He was a host in himself, and the side which received his support
seldom failed to score a victory. As the representative of the
English-speaking minority, he retained the public confidence to the
last, as much by the independence and personal purity of his character
as by his commanding talents. A Conservative by tradition and instinct,
he nevertheless did not hesitate to separate himself from the party in
provincial politics when the acts of some of his colleagues in the
“Tanneries Land Swap” and other matters brought disgrace upon its
escutcheon, and his conduct was not only ratified by his own immediate
constituents of Megantic, but warmly approved by his fellow-countrymen
generally. During the Joly administration he was the “power-behind the
throne,” and afterwards, until his resignation of his seat in the house
for good, the most conspicuous figure in the Provincial Opposition, next
to the leader himself. Although actually the judge of the Vice-Admiralty
Court at Quebec, an Imperial appointment, the subject of this sketch
still practises his profession in the other courts, and is generally
found engaged in all the more important cases, both civil and criminal.
He was formerly professor of commercial law in Morrin College, Quebec,
and was also chancellor of the University of Lennoxville, P.Q., from
which he received the honorary degree of D.C.L., in 1875. He has also
been _bâtonnier_ of the Quebec bar and a vice-president of the Union
Bank of Canada, at Quebec, which he helped to found. In religion he is a
member of the Church of England, and has always taken a keen and active
interest in its affairs. He has travelled a good deal on public and
professional business, and has repeatedly crossed to England to plead
before the Privy Council in appeals of great importance. Has two
brothers living, the elder, Commissary-General Matthew Bell Irvine,
C.B., C.M.G., and the younger, Lieut.-Col. Acheson Gosford Irvine, a
member of the Council of the North-West Territories, and late
Commissioner North-West Mounted Police. He married, in August, 1856, the
third daughter of the late Henry Le Mesurier, a well-known merchant of
Quebec, and formerly an officer in H.M. 48th regiment, and by her has
had issue ten children.
* * * * *
=Cadman, James=, Civil and Mining Engineer, Quebec, is a good type of
the men to whose professional skill and energy the eastern section of
the Dominion is indebted for so much of its development by railways
within the last twenty years. An Englishman, by birth, he has all the
Englishman’s well known doggedness of character, and all the trained
engineer’s abiding faith in the invincibility of science and the power
of mind over matter. The word “impossible” has long since been erased
from his lexicon, as illustrated especially by the great undertaking
with which his name has been more prominently connected of late, the
construction of the railway from Quebec to Lake St. John through a
region of unparalleled difficulty from the engineering point of view.
Mr. Cadman was born in Dudley, Worcestershire, England, on the 31st
January, 1832, his father’s name being also James Cadman, and his
mother’s originally, Sarah Forrest Brown. He received a good plain
English education at the Blue Coat School, Dudley, and studied civil and
mining engineering under S. H. Blackwell, of Russell’s Hall Colliery,
Dudley, of which he was afterwards appointed resident engineer. He
subsequently distinguished himself in the same capacity in a number of
the other great English collieries and iron works until 1862, when he
came to New Brunswick as mining engineer for the New Brunswick Charcoal
and Pig Iron Company. In 1867, he became connected as resident engineer
with the European and North-American Railway, and in 1868 was appointed
assistant engineer of the Intercolonial Railway, in the location and
construction of which he took an active part until 1875, when he was
retained for the survey of the Newfoundland Railway. On his return from
Newfoundland, he was named locating engineer of the North Shore Railway,
in which position he continued to act until 1879, when he was raised to
the still more prominent and responsible post of chief engineer of the
Quebec and Lake St. John Railway, which he still holds with great
advantage to the success of that arduous and important enterprise. Mr.
Cadman is a member of the Church of England, and a Freemason. He has
never taken any part in politics in England or Canada, not even to vote.
In his early manhood, he was for three years a member of the South
Staffordshire Rifle Volunteers. In 1860, he married Margaret Doughty, a
niece of the celebrated mining engineer, John Yardley, of East
Worcestershire, by whom he has had a family of five children, three of
whom are still living.
* * * * *
=Kelly, Francis=, J.P., Joliette, Quebec province, is a native of
Ireland, having been born in Carlow, Leinster, on the 17th of March,
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