Charles Ramsay Devlin

For the American contractor and bondsman, see Charles Devlin.

Charles Ramsay Devlin

Charles Ramsay Devlin (29 October 1858 – 1 March 1914) was a Canadian politician who was a Member of Parliament (MP) in the Canadian House of Commons, in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec, and an Irish MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Career

Born in Aylmer, Lower Canada, the son of Charles Devlin and Ellen Roney, his father was a merchant from Roscommon in the Republic of Ireland. After attending the Petit Séminaire de Montréal from 1871 to 1877, he studied at the Université Laval in the faculty of arts from 1879 to 1881 but did not graduate. It is uncertain what his profession was before being elected as the Liberal candidate in 1891 to the Canadian House of Commons for the riding of Ottawa (County of) with the help of his friend Henri Bourassa. He was re-elected in 1896 for the riding of Wright. He resigned in 1897 and was appointed Canada’s first trade commissioner in Ireland and served until 1902.

In 1902, against the advice of Canadian Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, Devlin was elected by acclamation to the British House of Commons as the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate for Galway Borough. From 1903 to 1906, he was secretary general of the United Irish League. After being returned in the January 1906 general election he resigned later that year to return to Canada and was elected to the Canadian House of Commons from the riding of Nicolet. He resigned in 1907, after being appointed minister of colonization, mines, and fisheries in the cabinet of Quebec Premier Lomer Gouin. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec in a 1907 by-election in the riding of Nicolet and was re-elected in 1908 and 1912. He served until his death in 1914.

He was awarded honorary degrees from the Université Laval in 1908 and the University of Ottawa in 1910. His brother, Emmanuel Berchmans Devlin was also a member of the Canadian House of Commons.

References

• Charles Ramsay Devlin at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Charles Ramsay DEVLIN at Assemblée nationale du Québec (French)

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Charles Ramsay Devlin
• Charles Ramsay Devlin - Parliament of Canada biography

Parliament of Canada
Preceded by Alonzo Wright	Member of Parliament from Ottawa (County of) 1891–1896	Succeeded by The electoral district was abolished in 1892.
Preceded by The electoral district was created in 1892.	Member of Parliament from Wright 1896–1897	Succeeded by Louis Napoléon Champagne
Preceded by Rodolphe Lemieux	Member of Parliament from Nicolet 1906–1907	Succeeded by Gustave Adolphe Turcotte
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Arthur Alfred Lynch	Member of Parliament for Galway 1903–1906	Succeeded by Stephen Gwynn

Persondata
Name	Devlin, Charles
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	29 October 1858
Place of birth
Date of death	1 March 1914
Place of death