Louis Henry Davies: Difference between revisions

| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]

| name = Sir Louis Henry Davies

| honorific-suffix = {{postnominals|country=CAN|size=100%|KCMG|PC}}

| image = LouisHenryDaviesHon. Sir Louis Henry Davies.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = The Right = Hon. Sir LouisDavies, Henryc. Davies1903

| order1 = 3rd

| office1 = Premier of Prince Edward Island

| predecessor1 = [[Lemuel Owen]]

| successor1 = [[William Wilfred Sullivan]]

| monarch1 = [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]]

| term_start1 = August 15, 1876

| term_end1 = April 25, 1879

| office2 = Leader of the [[Prince Edward Island Liberal Party]]

| predecessor2 = [[Robert Haythorne]]

| successor2 = [[John Yeo]]

| term_start2 = 1876

| term_end2 = June 20, 1882

| office3 = Member of the [[General Assembly of Prince Edward Island]] for [[4th Kings]]

| predecessor3 = None

| successor3 = [[James Edwin Robertson|James Robertson]]

| alongside3 = [[Augustine Colin Macdonald|A.C. MacDonald]], [[James E. MacDonald|J.E. MacDonald]]

| term_start3 = 1872

| term_end3 = August 10, 1876

| office4 = Member of the [[General Assembly of Prince Edward Island]] for [[5th Queens]]

| predecessor4 = [[Frederick de St Croix Brecken|Frederick Brecken]]

| successor4 = [[Neil McLeod (politician)|Neil McLeod]]

| alongside4 = [[George Wastie Deblois|George W. Deblois]]

| term_start4 = August 10, 1876

| term_end4 = April 2, 1879

| constituency_MP5 = [[Queen's County (electoral district)|Queen's County]]

| parliament5 = Canadian

| predecessor5 = [[James Colledge Pope]]<br />[[Frederick de Sainte-Croix Brecken]]

| alongside5 = [[John Theophilus Jenkins]]

| term_start5 = June 20, 1882

| term_end5 = February 27, 1883

| alongside6 = [[Frederick de Sainte-Croix Brecken]]

| predecessor6 =

| successor6 =

| term_start6 = February 27, 1883

| term_end6 = August 19, 1884

| alongside7 = [[John Theophilus Jenkins]]

| term_start7 = August 19, 1884

| term_end7 = February 22, 1887

| alongside8 = [[William Welsh (Canadian politician)|William Welsh]]

| successor8 = abolished 1892

| term_start8 = February 22, 1887

| term_end8 = June 23, 1896

| constituency_MP9 = [[West Queen's]]

| parliament9 = Canadian

| predecessor9 = created 1892

| successor9 = [[Donald Farquharson (politician)|Donald Farquharson]]

| term_start9 = June 23, 1896

| term_end9 = September 25, 1901

| order10 = 6th

| office10 = Chief Justice of Canada

| predecessor10 = [[Charles Fitzpatrick]]

| successor10 = [[Francis Alexander Anglin]]

| term_start10 = October 23, 1918

| term_end10 = May 1, 1924

| nominator10 = [[Robert Borden]]

| appointed10 =

| office11 = [[Puisne Justice]] of the [[Supreme Court of Canada]]

| predecessor11 = [[George Edwin King]]

| successor11 = [[Pierre-Basile Mignault]]

| term_start11 = September 25, 1901

| term_end11 = October 23, 1918

| nominator11 = [[Wilfrid Laurier]]

| appointed11 =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1845|05|04}}

| birth_place = [[Charlottetown]], [[Prince Edward Island|Prince Edward Island Colony]]

| death_date = {{death date and age|1924|05|01|1845|05|04}}

| death_place = [[Ottawa]], [[Ontario]], [[Canada|Dominion of Canada]]

| nationality = Canadian

| spouse = {{marriage|Susan Wiggins|1872}}

| party = [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]]

| otherparty = [[Prince Edward Island Liberal Party]]

| relations = [[Benjamin Davies (politician)|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)<br />Solicitor General (1869)<br />Minister of Marine and Fisheries (1896–1901)

'''Sir Louis Henry Davies''' {{postnominals|country=CAN|KCMG|PC}} (May 4, 1845{{snd}}May 1, 1924) was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] lawyer, businessman and politician, and judge from the province of [[Prince Edward Island]].{{cn|date=September 2019}} In a public career spanning six decades, he served as the third [[List of premiers of Prince Edward Island|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]].{{cn|date=September 2019}}

Davies was born in [[Charlottetown]], the son of [[Benjamin Davies (politician)|Benjamin Davies]] and Kezia Attwood Watts. He attended [[Prince of Wales College]] in Charlottetown.<ref name="DictCanBio">{{cncite web|url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/davies_louis_henry_15E.html|title=DAVIES, Sir LOUIS HENRY|last=Bumsted|first=J. M|work=Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 15|publisher=University of Toronto/Université Laval|access-date=September27 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423085315/http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/davies_louis_henry_15E.html|archive-date=23 April 20192021}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Morgan |editor-first=Henry James |editor-link=Henry James Morgan |title=Types of Canadian Women and of Women who are or have been Connected with Canada |location=Toronto |publisher=Williams Briggs |date=1903 |url=https://archive.org/details/typesofcanadianw01morguoft |page=[https://archive.org/details/typesofcanadianw01morguoft/page/74 |page=74]}}</ref>

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.{{cn|date=September 2019}}

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.{{cn|date<ref name=September"DictCanBio" 2019}}/> The Commission gave an award directing the United States to pay $5,500,000 to the British Government.{{cn|date<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=SeptemberkDVKAAAAYAAJ&dq=halifax+fishery+commission+1877+record+of+proceedings&pg=PA13 2019}}Record of the Proceedings of the Halifax Fisheries Commission]'', pp. 53-54.</ref>

Davies was appointed [[Queen's Counsel]] in 1880, and [[knighthood|knighted]] by [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]] in 1897.<ref>{{cncite book|title=The International Year-book: A Compendium of the World's Progress During the Year|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VZs2AQAAMAAJ&q=louis+henry+davies|access-date=September27 2019April 2021|volume=1|year=1899|publisher=Dodd, Mead|page=258}}</ref><ref name="DictCanBio" />

Davies was first elected to the [[Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island|House of Assembly]] as a [[Liberal Party of Prince Edward Island|Liberal]] in 1872 just prior to Prince Edward Island entering [[Canadian confederation]].<ref name="DictCanBio" /> 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 (1875)|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 school]]s for [[Catholic]]s should be permitted. The issue divided both parties, and had led to the collapse of one government.{{cn|date=September 2019}}

Following the defeat of the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Prince Edward Island|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]].{{cn|date=September 2019}} The Davies government was formed to enact a ''Public Schools Act'' which made school attendance compulsory, and created a non-sectarian public school system.{{cn|date=September 2019}} 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.{{cn|date=September 2019}} 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.{{cn|date=September 2019}}

Davies won a seat in the [[House of Commons of Canada]] in the [[1882 Canadian federal election|1882 federal election]] as a [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]].{{cn|date=September 2019}} When the Liberals formed government after the [[1896 Canadian federal election|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.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Davies, Sir Louis Henry|volume=7|page=865}}</ref>

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.{{cn|date=September 2019}}

As of 20162020, he is the last Chief Justice of Canada to have previously served in elected office. He is also, as of 20162020, the only Prince Edward Islander to have served on the Supreme Court.{{cn|date=September 2019}} The Prince Edward Island Supreme Court building in Charlottetown is named in his honour.{{cn|date=September 2019}} 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,<ref>{{Cite bcgnis|id=37147 |title=Davies Point}}</ref> as was also Davies Bay, at the head of Work Channel just east of [[Prince Rupert, British Columbia|Prince Rupert]].<ref>{{Cite bcgnis|id=35961 |title=Davies Bay}}</ref>

[[Category:Chief Justicesjustices of Canada]]

[[Category:Canadian QueenKing's Counsel]]

[[Category:Members of the QueenKing's Privy Council for Canada]]

[[Category:PeoplePoliticians from Charlottetown]]