Sir John Abbott

Abbott, Sir John Joseph Caldwell
Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott, lawyer, professor, politician, prime minister (b at St Andrews East [St-André-Est], Lower Canada 12 Mar 1821; d at Montréal 30 Oct 1893). A graduate of McGill College, John Abbott was admitted to the bar 1847 and taught at McGill from 1853, serving as dean of the law faculty 1855-80. Although he signed the Annexation Manifesto in 1849, he quickly recanted and during the TRENT AFFAIR of 1861 he raised and commanded a militia force to patrol the border with the US. He sat in the legislative assembly, and later in the House of Commons from 1857 until he was appointed to the Senate in 1887, except for the period 1874-80.

Solicitor general for Canada East in the short-lived administration of J.S. MACDONALD and L.V. SICOTTE 1862-63, he entered the federal Cabinet in 1887 as government leader in the Senate and minister without portfolio. (He was also mayor of Montréal 1887-89.) In 1891 he succeeded Sir John A. MACDONALD as PM. His was largely a caretaking administration and in 1892 he turned over the government to Sir John S.D. THOMPSON.

Author CARMAN MILLER

Suggested Reading
C. Ondaatje and D. Swainson, The Prime Ministers of Canada 1867-1968 (1968).

Links to Other Sites
First Among Equals
Learn about the private lives and political careers of Canada’s Prime Ministers. Includes biographies, speeches, and other historical documents. A Library and Archives Canada website.

Grave Sites of Canadian Prime Ministers
Check this site for photos and information about specific grave sites of former Prime Ministers of Canada. From the website for the National Program for the Grave Sites of Canadian Prime Ministers.

Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott
A detailed biography of Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott, prime minister, lawyer, businessman, educator, militia officer, and gentleman farmer. From the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.