Mackenzie Bowell
KCMG | |
---|---|
5th Prime Minister of Canada | |
In office December 21, 1894 – April 27, 1896 | |
Monarch | Victoria |
Governor General | The Earl of Aberdeen |
Preceded by | John Thompson |
Succeeded by | Charles Tupper |
Canadian Senator from Quebec | |
In office December 1892 – December 10, 1917 | |
Appointed by | John Sparrow David Thompson |
Member of Parliament for Hastings North | |
In office September 20, 1867 – December 1892 | |
Preceded by | Riding established |
Succeeded by | Alexander Augustus Williamson Carscallen |
Personal details | |
Born | Belleville Cemetery, Belleville, Ontario, Canada | December 27, 1823
Nationality | Canadian |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse |
Harriet Bowell
(m. 1847; died 1884) |
Children | 9 |
Awards | Fenian Raids |
Sir Mackenzie Bowell
Bowell was born in
In December 1894, Prime Minister Thompson unexpectedly died in office. The Earl of Aberdeen, Canada's governor general, appointed Bowell to replace Thompson as prime minister, due to his status as the most senior cabinet member. The main problem of Bowell's tenure as prime minister was the Manitoba Schools Question. His attempts at compromise alienated members of his own party, and following a Cabinet revolt in early 1896 he was forced to resign in favour of Charles Tupper. Bowell stayed on as a senator until his death at the age of 93, but never again held ministerial office; he served continuously as a Canadian parliamentarian for 50 years.
Early life, career, and family
Bowell was born in
Military service
A keen supporter of the
On March 23, 1866, he was promoted to Captain in command of
Elected to Parliament
Bowell was first elected to the
Appointed to Cabinet, Senator
In 1878, with the Conservatives again governing, he joined the Cabinet as minister of customs. In 1892 he became minister of militia and defence, having held his Commons seat continuously for 25 years. A competent, hardworking administrator, Bowell remained in Cabinet as minister of trade and commerce, a newly created portfolio, after he became a senator that same year. His visit to
Prime minister (1894–1896)
In December 1894, Prime Minister John Sparrow David Thompson died suddenly, and Bowell, as the most senior Cabinet minister, was appointed in Thompson's stead by the Governor General. Bowell thus became the second of just two Canadian prime ministers (after John Abbott) to hold that office while serving in the Senate rather than the House of Commons.
Manitoba Schools Question
As Prime Minister, Bowell faced the
Leadership crisis
Bowell and his predecessors struggled to solve this problem, which divided the country and even Bowell's own Cabinet. He was further hampered in his handling of the issue by his own indecisiveness on it and by his inability, as a senator, to take part in debates in the House of Commons. Bowell backed legislation, already drafted, that would have forced Manitoba to restore its Catholic schools, but then postponed it due to opposition within his Cabinet. With the ordinary business of government at a standstill, several members of Cabinet decided that Bowell was incompetent to lead. To force him to step down, seven ministers resigned and then foiled the appointment of successors. Bowell denounced them as "a nest of traitors".
Resignation
Bowell was forced to resign as prime minister. After ten days, following an intervention on Bowell's behalf by the Governor General, the government crisis was resolved and matters seemingly returned to normal when six of the ministers were reinstated, but leadership was then effectively held by
Later life, and death
Bowell stayed in the Senate, serving as his party's leader there until 1906, and afterward as a regular Senator until his death in 1917, having served continuously for more than 50 years as a federal parliamentarian.
He died of pneumonia in Belleville, seventeen days short of his 94th birthday. He was buried in the Belleville cemetery.[6][7] His funeral was attended by a full complement of the Orange Order, but not by any currently or formerly elected member of the government.[8]
Legacy
Bowell was designated a National Historic Person in 1945, on the advice of the national Historic Sites and Monuments Board.[9]
The Post Office Department honored Bowell with a commemorative stamp in 1954, part of a series on prime ministers.
In their 1998 study of the Canadian prime ministers up through
Until 2017, Bowell remained the only Canadian prime minister without a full-length biography of his life and career. This shortfall was solved when the Belleville historian Betsy Dewar Boyce's book The Accidental Prime Minister was published by Bancroft, Ontario publisher Kirby Books. The book was published on the centennial of Bowell's death. Boyce had died in 2007, having unsuccessfully sought a publisher for her work for a decade.[11]
Supreme Court appointments
The following jurist was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada by the Governor General during Bowell's tenure:
- Désiré Girouard (September 28, 1895 – March 22, 1911)
See also
Archives
There is a Sir Mackenzie Bowell fonds at Library and Archives Canada. It includes 6.1 m of textual records.[12]
Notes
- ^ A few famous freemasons at freemasonry.bcy.ca
- ^ a b Blatherwick, John. "PRIME MINISTERS OF CANADA THEIR MILITARY CONNECTIONS, HONOURS and MEDALS" (PDF). National Defence Historical Department. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
- ^ WAITE, P.B. "Sir Mackenzie Bowell". Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
- ^ City of Winnipeg v. Barrett; City of Winnipeg v. Logan, [1892] A.C. 445 (P.C.).
- ^ Brophy v. Attorney General of Manitoba, [1895] A.C. 202 (P.C.).
- ^ Waite, P. B. (1998). "BOWELL, Sir MACKENZIE". In Cook, Ramsay; Hamelin, Jean (eds.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. XIV (1911–1920) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
- ^ "Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada - Former Prime Ministers and Their Grave Sites - The Honourable Sir Mackenzie Bowell". Parks Canada. Government of Canada. December 20, 2010. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
- ^ The Globe and Mail, Dec. 29, 2017, "The accidental prime minister" (article), by Patrick White, p. A17
- ^ Sir MacKenzie Bowell National Historic Person, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations, no date
- ^ Hillmer, Norman & Granatstein, J. L. "Historians rank the BEST AND WORST Canadian Prime Ministers". Diefenbaker Web. Maclean's. Archived from the original on July 19, 2001. Retrieved March 27, 2012.
- ^ The Globe and Mail, Dec. 29, 2017, "The accidental prime minister" (article), by Patrick White, p. A17.
- ^ "Finding aid to Sir Mackenzie Bowell fonds, Library and Archives Canada" (PDF). Retrieved September 21, 2020.
Further reading
The Accidental Prime Minister, by
External links
- "Mackenzie Bowell". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2016.
- Mackenzie Bowell – Parliament of Canada biography
- ISBN 0-00-200027-X.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- Photograph:Hon. Mackenzie Bowell, 1881 - McCord Museum