Christopher Alexander Hagerman, (28 March 1792 – 14 May 1847) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

militia officer, lawyer, administrator,

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and judge.

Early life and family

Known during his adult life as 'Handsome Kit', Hagerman was born at the

Bay of Quinte The Bay of Quinte () is a long, narrow bay shaped like the letter "Z" on the northern shore of Lake Ontario in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is just west of the head of the Saint Lawrence River that drains the Great Lakes into the Gulf of ...

Adolphustown, Ontario Adolphustown is a geographic area located in Greater Napanee, Ontario, Canada, on the Adolphus Reach of the Bay of Quinte in Lake Ontario. Adolphustown is now part of the town of Greater Napanee. The rural character of the Adolphustown region rem ...

, just west of

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...

. He was a son of

United Empire Loyalist United Empire Loyalist (UEL; or simply Loyalist) is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the governor of Quebec and governor general of the Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North Ameri ...

Major Nicholas Hagerman (1761–1819) J.P., and his wife Anne (1758–1847), daughter of John and Mary (Campbell) Fisher, formerly of

Killin Killin (; ) is a village in Perthshire in the central Highlands of Scotland. Situated at the western head of Loch Tay, it is administered by the Stirling Council area. Killin is a historic conservation village and sits within the Loch Lomond ...

. Kit's grandfather, Christopher Hagerman (b.1722), was a Dutch officer in the service of the Prussian Army who had fought for

George II of Great Britain George II (George Augustus; ; 30 October / 9 November 1683 – 25 October 1760) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Electorate of Hanover, Hanover) and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Em ...

at the

Battle of Culloden The Battle of Culloden took place on 16 April 1746, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. A Jacobite army under Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, thereby endi ...

, 1746. Following the

Battle of Quebec (1759) The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec (), was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years' War (referred to as the French and Indian War to describe the North American Theater (warfare), theatre). The battle, which to ...

, he was granted 2,000 acres in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, Hagerman's father (Nicholas) came under suspicion from the Commission for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies, and went over to the British in 1778. After relocating to

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

, some 200 km. north of Albany, in 1783, on completion of the war, Nicholas Hagerman signed with Captain Alexander White's company of Associated Loyalists. He settled the next year with his servant in the village of Adolphustown, with the help of local notable Peter Van Alstine. Kit Hagerman's uncle, Judge Alexander Fisher (1756–1830) M.P., of Adolphustown, was the father of Helen and Henrietta Fisher, who married the brothers Thomas Kirkpatrick and Judge Stafford Kirkpatrick respectively.

Legal, military, administrative and political careers

Hagerman began his legal career in the

law offices of his father, one of the first appointed

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

s in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

. He served in his father's militia regiment during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, becoming the aide-de-camp to

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

Gordon Drummond General Sir Gordon Drummond, GCB (27 September 1772 – 10 October 1854) was a Canadian-born British Army officer and the first official to command the military and the civil government of Canada. As Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, Drum ...

, who regarded him highly; Hagerman later gained the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Hagerman kept a journal of his war experiences, and this has survived; it is kept in the reserved collection of the City of Toronto Library. Hagerman was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1815. Having grown up outside

John Strachan John Strachan (; 12 April 1778 – 1 November 1867) was a notable figure in Upper Canada, an "elite member" of the Family Compact, and the first Anglican Bishop of Toronto. He is best known as a political bishop who held many government posit ...

's inner circle, his military service and association with Drummond gave him the entree he needed for political success. His younger brother Daniel Hagerman followed him into legal and political careers, but died young, at age 27, in 1821. In 1814 he was appointed Customs Officer at Kingston. He also represented the riding of Kingston for 14 years in the

Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada The Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada was the elected part of the legislature for the province of Upper Canada, functioning as the lower house in the Parliament of Upper Canada. Its legislative power was subject to veto by the appointed Li ...

as the first parliamentarian from Kingston to this legislative body. Hagerman served from 1820 to 1824 in the Eighth Parliament but was defeated for re-election in 1824. He then returned from 1831 to 1834 in the 11th Parliament, from 1835 to 1836 in the 12th Parliament, and from 1836 to 1840 in the 13th Parliament. In 1826 Hagerman was the defending counsel in the civil lawsuit for the Types Riot. He was called to the Bar of Upper Canada in 1815, and became a

King's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

that same year. In 1829 he was appointed solicitor general for the province, and in 1837 he became attorney general. He was the first Canadian-born attorney general of Upper Canada. As such, he had to deal with the

Upper Canada Rebellion The Upper Canada Rebellion was an insurrection against the Oligarchy, oligarchic government of the British colony of Upper Canada (present-day Ontario) in December 1837. While public grievances had existed for years, it was the Lower Canada Rebe ...

in late 1837, which unsuccessfully attempted to overthrown the dominance of the

Family Compact The Family Compact was a small closed group of men who exercised most of the political, economic and judicial power in Upper Canada (today's Ontario) from the 1810s to the 1840s. It was the Upper Canadian equivalent of the Château Clique in L ...

. Hagerman was a leading member and advocate of the

, a staunch conservative, and well known for his loyalty to the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. He was appointed judge for the Court of Queen's Bench in 1841. By this time, Hagerman was one of the most prominent people in Upper Canada, and came into contact with young fellow Kingstonian lawyer

John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (10 or 11January 18156June 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 until his death in 1891. He was the dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, and had a political ...

, also a Conservative, who was then just beginning his own political career. With Hagerman becoming a judge and thus vacating his parliamentary seat, Macdonald won election for Kingston in 1844 into the Province of Canada parliament, and later became Canada's first prime minister in 1867. Young Kingstonian

Oliver Mowat Sir Oliver Mowat (July 22, 1820 – April 19, 1903) was a Canadians, Canadian lawyer, politician, and Ontario Liberal Party leader. He served for nearly 24 years as the third premier of Ontario. He was the eighth lieutenant governor of Ontario ...

, who had apprenticed as a lawyer with Macdonald, was at that time beginning a career which would see him become an Ontario Liberal Party premier for a record 24 years (1872–96).

Personality

Hagerman was an excellent and skilled orator and conversationalist, and was certainly a controversial figure. He made trouble for himself with intemperate remarks on many occasions, damaging his career prospects. He was a powerfully built man, both bumptious and aggressive, and on one occasion in Kingston horse-whipped the

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

Robert Fleming Gourlay Robert Fleming Gourlay (March 24, 1778 – August 1, 1863) was a Scottish-Canadian writer, political reform activist, and agriculturalist. Early life and education Gourlay was born in Craigrothie in the Parish of Ceres, Fife, Scotland on 22 ...

, in 1818. As popular as he was within the

(he was a particular favourite of

John Colborne, 1st Baron Seaton Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal John Colborne, 1st Baron Seaton, (16 February 1778 – 17 April 1863) was a British Army officer and colonial governor. After taking part as a junior officer in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Hollan ...

), he was thoroughly hated by those outside the circle.

Marriages

He was married three times. In 1817 he married Elizabeth, daughter of James Macaulay. In England in 1834, he married Elizabeth Emily, daughter of the British Deputy Secretary at War, William Merry (1762–1855) of Lansdowne Terrace,

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

, by his wife Anne, daughter of Kender Mason of Beel House,

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

, the sister of Henry Mason, who married a niece of

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte ( – 21 October 1805) was a Royal Navy officer whose leadership, grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics brought about a number of decisive British naval victories during the French ...

. Two years later, again in England, he married Caroline, daughter of William George Daniel-Tyssen (1773–1838) of Foley House etc., High Sheriff of

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, by his wife Amelia, only daughter and heiress of Captain John Amhurst R.N., of East Farleigh Court, Kent.

Death and legacy

Hagerman died at

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in 1847, the father of four children by his first marriage and a daughter by his second. There was a township of "Hagerman" in Ontario named after him. Township of Hagerman was amalgamated with a few others to form

Whitestone, Ontario Whitestone is a municipality in the Canadian province of Ontario, as well as the name of a community within the municipality. The municipality, located in the Parry Sound District, had a population of 916 in the Canada 2016 Census. History I ...

. Hagerman's portrait hangs as part of the Kingston civic collection in Memorial Hall, Kingston City Hall; it was restored in 2014. Hagerman Street, in the Old Industrial Area of Kingston, is named for him and his family.

References

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hagerman, Christopher 1792 births 1847 deaths Judges in Canada West, Province of Canada Lawyers in Upper Canada and Canada West People from Lennox and Addington County Canadian soldiers Members of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada Canadian King's Counsel Attorneys-general of Upper Canada