Sir John Sparrow David Thompson | |
|---|---|
 Thompson in 1891 | |
| 4th Prime Minister of Canada | |
| In office December 5, 1892 – December 12, 1894 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Governors General | The Lord Stanley of Preston The Earl of Aberdeen |
| Preceded by | John Abbott |
| Succeeded by | Mackenzie Bowell |
| 5th Premier of Nova Scotia | |
| In office May 25, 1882 – July 18, 1882 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Lieutenant Governor | Adams George Archibald |
| Preceded by | Simon Hugh Holmes |
| Succeeded by | William Thomas Pipes |
| Member of Parliament forAntigonish | |
| In office October 16, 1885 – December 12, 1894 | |
| Preceded by | Angus McIsaac |
| Succeeded by | Colin Francis McIsaac |
| Member of theNova Scotia House of Assembly forAntigonish County | |
| In office December 4, 1877 – July 27, 1882 Serving with Daniel MacDonald,Angus McGillivray | |
| Preceded by | John J. McKinnon |
| Succeeded by | Charles B. Whidden |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1845-11-10)November 10, 1845 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Died | December 12, 1894(1894-12-12) (aged 49) Windsor, Berkshire, England |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Resting place | Holy Cross Cemetery, Halifax |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 9 |
| Signature |  |
Sir John Sparrow David Thompson (November 10, 1845 – December 12, 1894) was a Canadian lawyer, judge and politician who served as the fourthprime minister of Canada from 1892 until his death in 1894. He had previously been fifthpremier of Nova Scotia for a brief period in 1882. He is the only post-Confederation provincialpremier to become prime minister, as of 2025[update].
Thompson was born inHalifax, Nova Scotia. He trained as a lawyer and wascalled to the bar in 1865. Thompson was elected to theNova Scotia House of Assembly in 1877 as a representative of theConservative Party. He became the provincial attorney general the following year, inSimon Holmes's government, and replaced Holmes as premier in 1882. However, he served for only two months before losing the1882 general election to theLiberal Party. After losing the premiership, he accepted an appointment to theNova Scotia Supreme Court.
In 1885, Thompson entered federal politics at the personal request of Prime MinisterJohn A. Macdonald, becomingMinister of Justice. In that role he was the driving force behind the enactment of theCriminal Code. Thompson became prime minister in 1892, following the retirement ofJohn Abbott. He was the firstRoman Catholic to hold the position. On a trip toEngland in 1894, Thompson unexpectedly suffered a heart attack and died, aged 49. He is only the second Canadian prime minister to have died in office, after John A. Macdonald.
Born inHalifax, Nova Scotia, to John Sparrow Thompson andCharlotte Pottinger, he was ofIrish andScottish descent.[1] Some sources say he was born on November 10, 1845, though others say 1844. Thompson marriedAnnie Affleck (1842–1913) in 1870. Annie Thompson was strong-willed and had the same kind of spirit that had drivenAgnes Macdonald (another prime minister's wife) to ride the cowcatcher of aCanadian Pacific Railway train through theBritish Columbia mountains. During their courtship, Thompson was forced to write love letters in shorthand because of his soon-to-be wife's disapproving parents. A daughter, Annie, died at 1, while youngest son David lived to be 2. Two other children died at birth, the Thompsons had five children survive childhood.
Thompson was called to theNova Scotia Bar in July 1865, and from 1878 to 1882, he served asAttorney General in the provincial government ofSimon H. Holmes. He briefly held the office of Nova Scotia premier in 1882, but his government was defeated in that year's election. Thompson was always a reluctant politician.
After his resignation from government, Thompson was immediately appointed to theNova Scotia Supreme Court by the Prime Minister Macdonald. In this role, he was instrumental in founding theDalhousie Law School in 1883. He taught law courses at Dalhousie in its early years.
After several failed overtures, Macdonald finally recruited Thompson toOttawa in 1885. Macdonald generally thought highly of Thompson, remarking, "My one great discovery was my discovery of Thompson". Macdonald poked some fun at his recruit as well: "Thompson is a little too fond of satire, and a little too much of a Nova Scotian."[2] However, his rise in government was probably because of the influence ofLady Aberdeen, the wife ofGovernor General Aberdeen and Macdonald's mentoring. She had great admiration for Thompson and wrote frequently about him in her "Canadian Journal".[3]
Thompson was sworn in asMinister of Justice in September 1885 and won a seat in Parliament in October, representingAntigonish.[4] In 1888, Thompson considered becoming a justice of theSupreme Court of Canada, but decided against moving from the Minister of Justice, and Macdonald was also unwilling to part with Thompson, one of his strongest ministers.[5]
Thompson's most enduring legacy is the drafting and in 1892 the enactment of the first comprehensiveCriminal Code. It remains the main consolidation and unification of the criminal law for Canada. As Minister of Justice before and during his premiership, he was the driving force behind this project. The Criminal Code provided a clear, standardized set of laws for the entire country, replacing a patchwork of statutes and common law, and remains a foundational element of Canadian law today.[6][4]
When he returned to Ottawa, theLouis Riel crisis was in full swing. The question of what to do with Riel, who had been sentenced to hang for leading the 1885North-West Rebellion, was now Thompson's responsibility. Although Thompson was ill with kidney stones at the time of Riel's execution, Thompson made his first major speech to Parliament during the subsequent debate by arguing that anyone who encouraged Canadians to act against the state could not escape justice. The speech was notable and helped to popularize Thompson, and he quickly rose to become a leading member of theConservative government.[4]
Thompson was the last minister to see Macdonald before his devastating stroke in May 1891. Following Macdonald's death a week later, there was a Cabinet crisis. The governor general,Lord Stanley of Preston, asked Thompson to form a government, but Thompson declined because of religious prejudice against theRoman Catholicism to which he had converted at his marriage.[7] Thompson recommendedJohn Abbott, who ultimately accepted. After 1893 Prince Edward Island House of Assembly passage of the amalgamation "Bill respecting the Legislature," Thompson, still wary of a Protestant backlash, reported to the Canadian Governor General that almost every article of the Prince Edward Island "amalgamation" statute, save for a punitive clause that violated with "little injury" the separation of powers between the Legislative Assembly and provincial court system, was "unobjectionable, and may be left to their operation." In a rejoinder toNeil McLeod (Leader of the Opposition in the provincial legislature), he concluded that there was as much probability of an amendment to increase the supermajority requirement to unanimity (for amending the bill) as there was probability that the entire "section itself may be repealed at any time by statute passed in the ordinary way." Then, in a demonstration that his tenure as Prime Minister would not result in a papal majority government, Thompson disregarded Conservative allegations of gerrymandering of French Acadian and otherwise Roman Catholic voters in Prince Edward Island. In 1894, Lord Stanley "approved" of this report months before Thompson's fatal heart attack.[8]
Thompson assumed the office of Prime Minister in 1892, a year later, when John Abbott retired. Thompson retained the post of Attorney General while he was prime minister.[4]
He came very close to bringingNewfoundland intoConfederation, but was unsuccessful.
His first major speech as Prime Minister was given inToronto in January 1893 and covered the topics of tolerance and Canadian nationalism in conjunction with loyalty to the British crown. At the time, Thompson was concerned about the possibility of the annexation of Canada by theUnited States, a goal that was being pursued within Canada by theContinental Union Association, a group of Ontario and Quebec Liberals. Despite his concern, Thompson ultimately realized that the conspiracy to make Canada part of the United States was confined to a small and noisy minority within the opposition party.
In March 1893, Thompson travelled toParis as one of the judges on the tribunal to settle thedispute over the seal harvest in the Bering Sea. The tribunal ruled there was no justification for the American claim that the Bering Sea was closed to all but American seal hunters.
Other matters of concern during Thompson's tenure as Prime Minister included the reduction of trade tariffs and questions over language in theManitoba Schools Question. There were serious local disputes existed over the role of Catholics and Protestants in administering the school system. The issue in the North West Territories would be resolved to Thompson's satisfaction but only after his death.
While in office, Thompson chose the following jurists to sit as justices of theSupreme Court of Canada:
Thompson had beenPrime Minister of Canada for only two years when he died suddenly from aheart attack at the age of 49 on December 12, 1894. He was at England'sWindsor Castle, whereQueen Victoria had just made him a member of herPrivy Council.[9][10] Thompson's physical condition had deteriorated during his time in Ottawa; he was significantly overweight when he died (standing 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m), he weighed about 225pounds (102 kg)), and had always pushed himself very hard in his work.
Thompson was the second of two Canadian prime ministers to die in office (the first being John A. Macdonald), and the only one to die out of Canada. (Three retired prime ministers died out of Canada:Charles Tupper,Richard Bedford Bennett, andBrian Mulroney). He also lived the shortest lifespan that any Canadian Prime Minister has lived in history.
After an elaborate funeral was staged for him in theUnited Kingdom byQueen Victoria, Thompson's remains were transported back to Canada aboard the armoured cruiserHMS Blenheim, which was painted black for the occasion. He was buried on January 3, 1895, in theHoly Cross Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia.[7][11]
Despite having held prime ministerial office, Thompson had little estate, so Parliament set up a fund to support his widow and children. The Canadian politicianMargaret Mitchell, who died March 8, 2017,[12] is considered the last of Thompson's descendants.
Thompson, then a youngbarrister, married in 1870 Annie E. Affleck, daughter of John Affleck, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and his wife, Catherine Saunders. Annie was born and educated in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The couple had nine children, only five of whom survived early childhood. After she was widowed on December 12, 1894, a fund of $30,000 (equivalent to $946 thousand in 2024) was raised for Lady Thompson, headed byLord Strathcona with a subscription of $5,000; the Parliament of Canada contributed $25,000. TheGovernor-General, theEarl of Aberdeen undertook the education of the sons. Lady Thompson cofounded, with the Countess of Aberdeen, the National Council of Women, and served as one of its presidents. She served as a governor of theVictorian Order of Nurses. As a widow, she lived at Derwent Lodge, 631 Sherbourne Street in Toronto.[13]
Thompson was designated aPerson of National Historic Significance in 1937.[14] His collected papers were donated in 1949 to theNational Archives of Canada by his son, Colonel John Thompson.[15]
A ranking of the Canadian Prime Ministers was published byJ.L. Granatstein andNorman Hillmer in 1997. A survey of 26 Canadian historians determined that Thompson was ranked #10 of the 20 people who had at that time served as Canadian PM.[16] He was identified as "The great "might-have-been" of Canadian Prime Ministers...", whose potentially promising career was cut short by his early death.[17] A follow-up article co-authored by Hillmer in 2011 broadened the survey to include survey responses of over 100 historians; in this survey, Thompson was ranked 14th out the 22 who had by then served as PM.[18]
The high school in the Canadian sitcomLife with Derek, SJST, is named after Thompson.[19] Sir John Thompson Catholic Junior High School in Edmonton is named for him.[20] Thompson appears as a prominent character inPaul Marlowe's novelKnights of the Sea (set in 1887 when Thompson was Minister of Justice).
Since 1996, Sir John Thompson's former home in Ottawa at 237 Metcalfe Street has served as the national office of the Canadian Soccer Association.[21]
Nova Scotian artistWilliam Valentine painted Thompson's portrait.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Thompson, Sir John Sparrow".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 870.
Media related toJohn Sparrow David Thompson at Wikimedia Commons
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Justice and Attorney-General 1885–1894 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Canada 1892–1894 | Succeeded by |
| Leader of the Conservative Party 1892–1894 | ||
| Parliament of Canada | ||
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forAntigonish 1885–1894 | Succeeded by |
| Before Confederation (1848–1867) | |
|---|---|
| Post-Confederation (1867–present) | |
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