Sir Charles Ramsay Devlin (29 October 1858 – 1 March 1914) was a Canadian politician who was a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of Canada, in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec, and an Irish MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Sir Charles Ramsay Devlin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Canadian Parliament for Ottawa (County of) | |
| In office 1891–1896 | |
| Preceded by | Alonzo Wright |
| Succeeded by | District was abolished in 1892 |
| Member of the Canadian Parliament for Wright | |
| In office 1896–1897 | |
| Preceded by | Alonzo Wright |
| Succeeded by | Louis Napoléon Champagne |
| Member of Parliament for Galway | |
| In office 1903–1906 | |
| Preceded by | Arthur Alfred Lynch |
| Succeeded by | Stephen Gwynn |
| Member of the Canadian Parliament for Nicolet | |
| In office 1906–1907 | |
| Preceded by | Rodolphe Lemieux |
| Succeeded by | Gustave-Adolphe-Narcisse Turcotte |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec for Nicolet | |
| In office 1907–1912 | |
| Preceded by | Alfred Marchildon |
| Succeeded by | Arthur Trahan |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec for Témiscamingue | |
| In office 1912–1914 | |
| Preceded by | Riding created |
| Succeeded by | Télesphore Simard |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 29 October 1858 Galway Bay Ireland |
| Died | 1 March 1914 (aged 55) Aylmer, Quebec |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Other political affiliations | Irish Parliamentary Party Quebec Liberal Party |
| Relations | Emmanuel Berchmans Devlin, son Bernard Devlin, QC, MP, uncle |
Career
editBorn in Aylmer, Lower Canada, the son of Charles Devlin and Ellen Roney, his father was a merchant from Roscommon in 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 House of Commons of Canada 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.
| 1891 Canadian federal election: Ottawa (County of) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | ||||||
| Liberal | Charles Ramsay Devlin | 2,993 | ||||||
| Conservative | J. M. McDougall | 2,579 | ||||||
References
edit- "Charles Ramsay Devlin". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2016.
- "Biography". Dictionnaire des parlementaires du Québec de 1792 à nos jours (in French). National Assembly of Quebec.