- James Cockburn
James Cockburn, QC (
February 13 ,1819 –August 14 ,1883 ) was a Canadian Conservative politician, and a father ofCanadian Confederation .He was born in a small town on the English-Scottish border, and emigrated to Canada with his family at the age of 13. After attending
Upper Canada College andOsgoode Hall , he established a law practice inCobourg, Ontario . In the 1850s, Cockburn was elected to the town council. In 1861, he was elected to the Province of Canada's legislative assembly as a Reformer representingNorthumberland West . Despite elected as an opponent of the Macdonald - Cartier administration, Cockburn switched allegiances and became a supporter of Macdonald's Liberal-Conservative Party.Cockburn attended the
Quebec Conference of 1864 as a supporter of Confederation. After Confederation, he was elected to the newCanadian House of Commons in the country's first election. He was nominated by SirJohn A. Macdonald to be Canada's first Speaker of the House of Commons, a position in which he served from 1867 to 1874.His performance as Speaker was hindered by the fact that he spoke no French in a chamber in which both English and French were official languages. Fact|date=May 2007 He did however understand French. In 1872, Cockburn was nominated for a second term as Speaker despite reservations by the Opposition that he had been too favourable to the government in his rulings. Cockburn lost his seat in the 1874 election that had been precipitated by the
Pacific Scandal and that brought down the Macdonald government.Cockburn won back his former seat in the 1878 election but did not take an active role in Parliament. He resigned in 1881 when he was appointed to collect and classify Canadian
statute s. He completed this assignment shortly before his death on August 14th, 1883.References
* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=5438 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]
* [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/key/bio.asp?Language=E&query=2725&s=M Federal Political Biography from the Library of Parliament]
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