Edward Blake 1833-1912

Lawyer, leading member of the Canada First movement, and statesman, Edward Blake was born in Middlesex County, Upper Canada. He was the second premier of Ontario (1871-2) and a member of the House of Commons for twenty-two years, serving as Minister of Justice in the cabinet of Alexander Mackenzie and as leader of the federal Liberal party (1880-1887). An authority on the constitution and exponent of provincial rights, he argued a number of important cases before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. He sat in the British parliament as an Irish Nationalist (1892-1907). He died in Toronto.