John William Ritchie

John William Ritchie, QC ( born March 26, 1808 in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, † December 13, 1890 in Halifax ) was a Canadian politician and judge. As one of the Fathers of Confederation, he is among the pioneers of the Canadian federal government established in 1867. From 1867 to 1870 he was a senator, then judge.

Biography

The son of Thomas Ritchie, a judge and member of the House of Representatives of Nova Scotia, received his education partly from a private tutor. Later, he studied law in the office of his uncle James William Johnston ( back then there were in Nova Scotia no law faculty) and in 1831 admitted to the bar. In 1836 he stood for election for the first time, but lost. A year later he was appointed to the legal staff of the House of Representatives; these activities he held until 1860.

Ritchie was the founder in 1856 of the Union Bank of Halifax and directed this financial institution until 1866 as a director. From 1863 he was a member of the Board of Dalhousie University. Charles Tupper called Ritchie in May 1864 as Minister of Justice in the government of Nova Scotia. In December 1866 he took part in the London Conference, which was to advise on the creation of a federal state in British North America. As majority leader, he secured the consent of the upper house on the accession of Nova Scotia. Canadian Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald appointed Ritchie in October 1867, Senator. He resigned his parliamentary seat down in September 1870 and served thereafter until 1882 as a judge on the province of Nova Scotia Supreme Court.

His younger brother William Johnstone Ritchie was 1879-1892 Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.