Edward Blake
Dominick Edward Blake | |
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The Hon. Dominick Edward Blake | |
2nd Premier of Ontario | |
In office December 20, 1871 – October 25, 1872 |
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Preceded by | John Sandfield Macdonald |
Succeeded by | Oliver Mowat |
Personal details | |
Born | Adelaide Township, Upper Canada |
October 13, 1833
Died | March 1, 1912 Toronto, Ontario |
(aged 78)
Political party | Ontario Liberal Party |
Other political affiliations |
Liberal Party of Canada Irish Parliamentary Party (Anti-Parnellite)[1] |
Spouse(s) | Margaret Cronyn |
Relations | William Hume Blake, father Benjamin Cronyn, father-in-law George MacKinnon Wrong, son-in-law H. H. Wrong, grandson |
Religion | Anglican |
Signature |
Dominick Edward Blake, PC, QC (October 13, 1833 – March 1, 1912), known as Edward Blake, was the second Premier of Ontario, Canada, from 1871 to 1872 and leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1880 to 1887. He is one of only three federal Liberal leaders never to become Prime Minister of Canada, the others being Stéphane Dion and the latter's immediate successor Michael Ignatieff. He may be said to have served in the national politics of what developed as the affairs of three nationalities: Canadian, British, and Irish. Blake was also the founder, in 1856, of the Canadian law firm now known as Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP.
Blake was born in 1833, in Adelaide Township, Upper Canada (Ontario) the son of William Hume Blake and Catherine Honoria Hume, and was educated at Upper Canada College.
In 1856, after Blake was called to the bar, he entered into partnership with Stephen M. Jarvis in Toronto to practice law. When his brother Samuel Hume Blake joined soon thereafter, it was Blake & Blake and today the firm is known as Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP.[2]
Blake was recruited into active politics by George Brown, became leader of the Ontario Liberal Party in 1868 and premier in 1871, but left provincial politics to run in the 1872 federal election, in which he was re-elected. The "dual mandate" rule that allowed a politician to sit simultaneously in a provincial and federal house had been abolished, and Blake chose to abandon his career in provincial politics. He played a major role in exposing the government of Sir John A. Macdonald's complicity in the Pacific Scandal forcing the government's resignation. Blake was offered the prime ministership, but turned it down due to ill health.
When the Liberals won the subsequent 1874 federal election, Blake joined the cabinet of Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie and served as Minister of Justice and President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada.
The Liberals were defeated in the 1878 election, and Blake succeeded Mackenzie as party leader in 1880. He failed to defeat Macdonald's Conservatives in the 1882 or 1887 elections. Blake resigned as Liberal leader in 1887, recruiting Wilfrid Laurier as his successor, and left the Canadian House of Commons in 1891, when he moved to Britain.
In the 1892 election, Blake entered the British House of Commons as an Irish Nationalist Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of South Longford in the centre of Ireland. He served until 1907 when he resigned (obtaining the position of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds) following a stroke and retired to Canada.
From 1876 to 1900, he was the chancellor of the University of Toronto.
[edit] Family
Edward Blake married Margaret Cronyn, the daughter of the Right Rev. Dr. Cronyn, Lord Bishop of Huron, and his wife, Margaret Ann (Bickerstaff) in 1856. She was born in 1835 and was educated at London, Ont. and in Toronto. Mrs. Blake, practiced benevolent and other useful work. She was a member of the Toronto Ladies' Educational Association and served as the Honorary President of the Canadian Branch of the McAH Association in Toronto. She also frequently accompanied her husband on his political tours. The couple had seven children, four of whom survived them.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ "Reception to Edward Blake, M.P." (PDF). The New York Times. February 9, 1894. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9A02EED91031E033A2575AC0A9649C94659ED7CF. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
- ^ "Annual Review 2005/06: Making History". Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP. http://www.blakes.com/english/annualreview/BLAKES_book&insert.pdf.
- ^ Morgan, Henry James Types of Canadian women and of women who are or have been connected with Canada : (Toronto, 1903) [1]
[edit] External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Edward Blake |
- "Edward Blake". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2005.
- Ontario Legislative Assembly Parliamentarian History
- Edward Blake - Parliament of Canada biography
- Ronan O'Brien, "An Irishman's Diary", Irish Times, 13 August 2007 (subscription required)
- Ontario's Historical Plaques
- "Blake, William Hume". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.
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- 1833 births
- 1912 deaths
- Canadian people of Anglo-Irish descent
- Anti-Parnellite MPs
- Canadian Anglicans
- Chancellors of the University of Toronto
- Irish Parliamentary Party MPs
- Leaders of the Opposition (Canada)
- Leaders of the Liberal Party of Canada
- Leaders of the Ontario Liberal Party
- Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario
- Members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada
- Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for Irish constituencies (1801–1922)
- Lawyers in Ontario
- Canadian Queen's Counsel
- Premiers of Ontario
- Treasurers of the Law Society of Upper Canada
- UK MPs 1892–1895
- UK MPs 1895–1900
- UK MPs 1900–1906
- UK MPs 1906–1910
- Upper Canada College alumni
- National Historic Persons of Canada