John Caswell Davis

Infobox Senator
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name = John Caswell Davis
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office = Senator
term_start = 25 January 1949
term_end = 25 October 1953
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constituency = Winnipeg, Manitoba
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birth_date = birth date|mf=yes|1888|8|19|mf=y
birth_place = Montreal, Quebec, Canada
death_date = death date and age|mf=yes|1953|10|25|1888|8|19
death_place =St. Boniface, Manitoba, Canada
restingplace =St. Boniface, Manitoba, Canada
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nationality = Canadian
party = Liberal Party of Canada
spouse = Priscilla Emmerling Guilbault (1916-1953)
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children = James Edward Joseph, Yvonne, Lucille, Patricia
residence = Saint Boniface, Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
alma_mater = McGill University
occupation = Civil engineer
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religion =Roman Catholic


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John Caswell Davis (August 19 1888 – October 25 1953) was a Canadian senator.

Biography

Early career

Born in Montreal, Quebec in 1888, after graduating from McGill University in civil engineering he moved to Saint Boniface, Manitoba where his Montreal upbringing fostered a quick assimilation into the French and Metis culture of St. Boniface.

Political career

Bilingual and bicultural, John Caswell Davis's political abilities were appreciated as a bridge to unify a French minority intent on asserting itself culturally and politically within a Canada dominated by the English majority. Member of the Liberal Party and gifted orator John Caswell Davis entered the senate in 1949. His promising political career was cut short by his untimely death in 1953 while only 63 years old.

Other work

Among his many talents he was a gifted, inspired, and prolific artist working in numerous media including pencil, pen and ink, [watercolor] , and pastels. His excellent landscapes captured the changing and often vanishing natural beauty of forests, prairie, and mountains of western Canada. His cityscapes are low key but very revealing explorations of Canadian society in the process of urbanizion after centuries of rural existence. An excellent draftsman with a deft linear ability that he used to document everyday life in French St. Boniface. Numerous portraits of friends and family members demonstrate adroitness in capturing and revealing the personality and soul of his sitters. Members of all stations of life were subjects of equal interest to him, from prime ministers and politicians, the wealthy and famous, colorful voyageurs and humble farmers, tradesmen and housekeepers to name a few. Deeply inspired by Daumier he was a caricaturist par excellence with a keen facility and fondness for revealing the humor and irony of daily experiencee. His commitment to documenting vanishing Aboriginal Canada was accomplished with an almost unparalleled brilliance. A fondness and fascination for Native culture is evident in numerous superb portraits created while attending pow wows and Indian gatherings all over the west.

Personal life

He married Priscilla Emmerling Guilbault in about 1916 (Emmerlings and Guilbaults had been peripherally involved in the Riel Rebellion). Their union produced four children: James Edward Joseph (1919-2003); Yvonne (b. 1921); Lucille (1923-1995); and Patricia (b.1931).

External links

* [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/key/bio.asp?lang=E&query=2367&s=M Synopsis of federal political experience from the Library of Parliament] parl.gc.ca