Louis Henry Davies

Sir Louis Henry Davies KCMG PC (May 4, 1845 – May 1, 1924) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman and politician, and judge from the province of Prince Edward Island. In a public career spanning six decades, he served as the 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.

The Right Honourable Sir Louis Henry Davies KCMG PC
The Right Hon. Sir Louis Henry Davies
3rd Premier of Prince Edward Island
In office August 15, 1876 – April 25, 1879
Monarch	Victoria
Lieutenant Governor	Robert Hodgson
Preceded by	Lemuel Owen
Succeeded by	William Wilfred Sullivan
Leader of the Prince Edward Island Liberal Party
In office 1876 – June 20, 1882
Preceded by	Robert Haythorne
Succeeded by	John Yeo
Member of the General Assembly of Prince Edward Island for 4th Kings
In office 1872 – August 10, 1876 Serving with A.C. MacDonald, J.E. MacDonald
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	James Robertson
Member of the General Assembly of Prince Edward Island for 5th Queens
In office August 10, 1876 – April 2, 1879 Serving with George W. Deblois
Preceded by	Frederick Brecken
Succeeded by	Neil McLeod
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Queen's County
In office June 20, 1882 – February 27, 1883 Serving with John Theophilus Jenkins
Preceded by	James Colledge Pope Frederick de Sainte-Croix Brecken
In office February 27, 1883 – August 19, 1884 Serving with Frederick de Sainte-Croix Brecken
In office August 19, 1884 – February 22, 1887 Serving with John Theophilus Jenkins
In office February 22, 1887 – June 23, 1896 Serving with William Welsh
Succeeded by	abolished 1892
Member of the Canadian Parliament for West Queen's
In office June 23, 1896 – September 25, 1901
Preceded by	created 1892
Succeeded by	Donald Farquharson
6th Chief Justice of Canada
In office October 23, 1918 – May 1, 1924
Nominated by	Robert Borden
Preceded by	Charles Fitzpatrick
Succeeded by	Francis Alexander Anglin
Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
In office September 25, 1901 – October 23, 1918
Nominated by	Wilfrid Laurier
Preceded by	George Edwin King
Succeeded by	Pierre-Basile Mignault
Personal details
Born	May 4, 1845 Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
Died	May 1, 1924 (aged 78) Ottawa, Ontario
Nationality	Canadian
Political party	Liberal
Other political affiliations	Prince Edward Island Liberal Party
Spouse(s)	Susan Wiggins ​ (m. 1872)​
Relations	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) Solicitor General (1869) Minister of Marine and Fisheries (1896–1901)

Early life and family

Davies was born in Charlottetown, the son of Benjamin Davies and Kezia Attwood Watts. He attended Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown.

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.[1]

Legal career

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.

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. The Commission gave an award directing the United States to pay $5,500,000 to the British Government.

Davies was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1880, and knighted by Queen Victoria in 1897.

Political career

Davies was first elected to the House of Assembly as a Liberal in 1872 just prior to Prince Edward Island entering Canadian confederation. 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, 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 schools for Catholics should be permitted. The issue divided both parties, and had led to the collapse of one government.

Following the defeat of the 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. The Davies government was formed to enact a Public Schools Act which made school attendance compulsory, and created a non-sectarian public school system. 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. 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.

Davies won a seat in the House of Commons of Canada in the 1882 federal election as a Liberal. When the Liberals formed government after the 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.[2]

Supreme Court of Canada

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.

As of 2020, he is the last Chief Justice of Canada to have previously served in elected office. He is also, as of 2020, the only Prince Edward Islander to have served on the Supreme Court. The Prince Edward Island Supreme Court building in Charlottetown is named in his honour. 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,[3] as was also Davies Bay, at the head of Work Channel just east of Prince Rupert.[4]

References

1. Morgan, Henry James, ed. (1903). Types of Canadian Women and of Women who are or have been Connected with Canada. Toronto: Williams Briggs. p. 74.
2. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Davies, Sir Louis Henry" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 865.
3. "Davies Point". BC Geographical Names.
4. "Davies Bay". BC Geographical Names.

External links

• Bumsted, J.M. (2005). "Davies, Sir Louis Henry". In Cook, Ramsay; Bélanger, Réal (eds.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. XV (1921–1930) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
• Louis Henry Davies – Parliament of Canada biography
• Supreme Court of Canada biography