Collection search - Sir John Abbott fonds [textual record]
-
Hierarchy 
Sir John Abbott fonds [textual record]
Hierarchical level:FondsContext of this record:Fonds includes:4 lower level description(s)View lower level description(s) -
Finding aid Textual records (Paper) The finding aid is an author and subject index to the correspondence. There is also a file list for the Memoranda and Notes. MSS0183 (90: Open)Textual records (Electronic) The finding aid is an alphabetical list of correspondents which includes dates, subjects, volume and page numbers. There is also a description of the memoranda and notes. (90: Open)
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000000042.pdf -
Record information Sir John Abbott fonds [textual record]
Date:1884-1892, 1936.Reference:R14085-0-3-E, MG26-CType of material:Textual materialFound in:Archives / Collections and FondsItem ID number:104079Date(s):1884-1892, 1936.Bilingual equivalent:Place of creation:No place, unknown, or undeterminedExtent:35 cm of textual records.Language of material:EnglishScope and content:Fonds consist of correspondence, 1891-1892, 0.225m; memoranda and notes, 1884-1892, 0.075m; printed material, 1891-1892, 0.025m; additional papers, 1891-1892, 1936, 0.025m. Unfortunately the Abbott Papers are far from complete.Additional name(s):Biography/Administrative history:Abbott, J. J. C. (John Joseph Caldwell), Sir, 1821-1893 : Prime Minister of Canada (1891-92)
John Joseph Caldwell Abbott was born on 12 March 1821 at St. Andrews, Lower Canada (Saint-André-d'Argenteuil, Quebec).
Abbott entered business at age seventeen, studied law at McGill University and became dean of the faculty in 1855. Future prime minister Wilfrid Laurier was one of his students.
Abbott also built a large commercial law practice. In a rare criminal case, he defended Confederate agents who raided Vermont from Canadian soil during the American Civil War. Investments, mainly in railways, made Abbott extremely wealthy.
In 1857, Abbott ran for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for the riding of Argenteuil, winning only after a two-year legal challenge over voting irregularities. He was re-elected in 1861 and served for a year as solicitor general.
Abbott was elected to parliament as a Conservative for Argenteuil in 1867. He was a central figure in the Pacific Scandal that brought down Sir John A. Macdonald's government in 1873. Abbott was re-elected, but was removed by petition in 1874 for his role in the scandal.
Abbott was defeated in the 1878 general election and his 1880 by-election victory was voided for irregularities. He returned to parliament in an 1881 by-election.
Macdonald appointed Abbott to the Senate in 1887 as leader of the government and minister without portfolio. Abbott served concurrently as Mayor of Montreal (1887-89).
Abbott succeeded Macdonald in 1891. During seventeen months in office, he initiated civil service reforms, revised the Criminal Code, secured a Canadian diplomatic presence in Washington and tried to negotiate a reciprocity treaty with the United States.
As a cabinet minister and senator, Abbott endorsed the federal government's systematically racist relationship with Indigenous Peoples, which caused tremendous ongoing trauma, displacement, disenfranchisement and exclusion.
Abbott married Mary Bethune in 1849. He was knighted in May 1892, shortly before his health failed. He resigned at the end of the year, died at Montreal on 30 October 1893 and was buried in the city's Mount Royal Cemetery.Additional information:General note:Most of the Abbott Papers (vols. 1-5) were discovered in 1950 among records of the Privy Council. They were in despatch cases labelled "Hon. Sir John Abbott's papers, 1891-1892. Sent for to Montreal by order of the Hon. Sir John S.D. Thompson". The additional papers (vol. 6) were received in 1974 from Abbott's grandson, Mr. Arthur C. Abbott of Beaconsfield, Quebec.Subject heading:- Sealing - Bering Sea
- Canadian Copyright Act
- Prime ministers - Canada - Staff, 1891-1892 Arthur A. Browne, 1892
- Prime ministers - Canada - Funeral service, 1891-1892 R.W. Powell, 1892
- Prime ministers - Canada - Transition period, 1891-1892 W.C. Van Horne, 1892
- Newfoundland - Relations - Canada, 1891-1892 North West Territories. Legislative Assembly, 1891-1892
- Canada - Relations - Newfoundland, 1891-1892 Lord Stanley, 1892
- Steamships - Australia, 1884-1889
- Steamboats - Australia, 1884-1889
- Canada. Parliament. Senate Legislators - Canada, 1884-1892
- Sealing - Canada, 1891-1892
- Copyright - Canada, 1889
- Tariff - Canada, 1888-1891
- St. John's (Nfld.) - Fires, 1893
- Bering Sea controversy, 1891-1892
- Canada 19th century
- Australia
- Legislators Canada
- Politicians Canada
- Prime ministers Canada
- Canada 1878-1896
Source:PrivateFormer archival reference no.:MG26-C -
Ordering and viewing options Conditions of access:Textual records[Consultation Open]Finding aid box [FA 183] 26[Consultation Closed]You can order materials in advance to be ready for you when you visit. You will need a user card to do this.
Cannot visit us on site? You can purchase a copy to be sent to you. Some restrictions may apply.
Event
Elapsed time (mm:ss,...)
QueryString parameter Parsing
00:00.00
Load Record model
00:00.00
Load record XML - Archives|FonAndCol
00:00.00
Load record fields from record XML
00:00.00
Load KWIC from Search API
00:00.00
Load previous / next record ids from the result list
00:00.00
Save record stats
00:00.00
Load Record display view
00:00.00