Sir Richard John Cartwright (December 4, 1835 – September 24, 1912) 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 ...

businessman and politician. Cartwright was one of Canada's most distinguished federal politicians during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was a cabinet minister in five Liberal governments. He served in the Canadian Parliament for 43 years and 5 months, being an MP from 1867 to 1904 then a Senator until his death in 1912. Prior to Confederation, he had served 4 years, 1 month and 15 days in the Legislative Assembly of the old Province of Canada. Thus, he was a legislator for more than 47 and a half years. He was a vigorous and trenchant orator, and was known as 'the Rupert of debate'. In particular, his debates with his Conservative counterpart, Sir

George Eulas Foster Sir George Eulas Foster (September 3, 1847 – December 30, 1931) was a Canadian politician and academic. Foster was a Member of Parliament (MP) and a Senator in the Canadian Parliament for a total of 45 years, 5 months and 24 days. He en ...

, are the stuff of Canadian Parliamentary legend. He was a progressive. A free trader, he stood against the Conservatives' high-tariff policy. Often propounding on the inalienable right of Canadian freeman to vote for and in support of their patriotic convictions independent of any party, he favoured proportional representation via

Single Transferable Voting The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vo ...

. He supported the fight of western farmers for accessible terminal grain elevators in 1910.

Early life

He was born and raised in Kingston,

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 ...

in a

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 ...

family, the son of Harriet Dobbs Cartwright and the grandson of Richard Cartwright, a Loyalist who was expelled from the U.S. at the time of the War of Independence. His father, Robert Cartwright, was an Anglican minister. His uncle, John Solomon Cartwright, was his father’s twin brother and a notable businessman, lawyer, banker, and politician, being a member of the last

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 ...

and then a member of the first

Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the Parliament of the Province of Canada. The Province of Canada consisted of the former province of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East (now Quebec), and Upper Canada ...

. Richard Cartwright was a major landowner in the area, and became prominent in Kingston's financial community as president of the Commercial Bank of Canada. He suffered a major blow when his bank failed in 1867.

Early political career

Cartwright entered politics when he was elected as a Conservative Party member and supporter of John A. Macdonald in the Province of Canada's legislative assembly in 1863. In 1867, the Province of Canada became part of the new

Canadian Confederation Canadian Confederation () was the process by which three British North American provinces—the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick—were united into one federation, called the Name of Canada#Adoption of Dominion, Dominion of Ca ...

. In 1867, Cartwright was elected to the newly formed

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

, again as a Tory. He was MP for the riding of Lennox, Ontario.

Crosses floor to join Liberals

In the year 1869, he broke with the Conservatives over Macdonald's appointment of Sir Francis Hincks as Minister of Finance, and

crossed the floor In some parliamentary systems (e.g., in Canada and the United Kingdom), politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a political party different from the one they were initially elected under. I ...

to join the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...

Cabinet Minister for Mackenzie

With the Liberal party's victory in the 1874 election, Cartwright was appointed Minister of Finance by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Alexander Mackenzie. He supported

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...

, but sought limited

tariffs A tariff or import tax is a duty imposed by a national government, customs territory, or supranational union on imports of goods and is paid by the importer. Exceptionally, an export tax may be levied on exports of goods or raw materials and is ...

as a means of generating government revenue.

Knighted

Cartwright was not elected in the 1878 general election but was successful in a Nov. 2, 1878 by-election in Huron Centre. He sat in the opposition bench. (The Liberals were defeated in the 1878 election.) In recognition of his service, he was awarded a knighthood in 1879. From the 1887 election, he represented the riding of Oxford South. In 1887, he called for the House of Commons to consider proportional representation. In the 1890s, the Liberals moved away from support for unrestricted reciprocity with the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and Cartwright's influence in the party diminished.

Cabinet Minister for Laurier

With the victory of

Wilfrid Laurier Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier (November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and Liberal politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadians, French ...

's Liberals in the 1896 election, Cartwright returned to Cabinet. Laurier denied Cartwright the finance ministry as a way of assuring Canada's business community that the government was not going to adopt free trade. Instead, he appointed Cartwright Minister of Trade and Commerce. Cartwright also served as a Canadian member of the Anglo-American Joint High Commission to resolve diplomatic problems between Canada and the United States in 1898. Cartwright was appointed to the Imperial Privy Council in 1902.

Senator

In 1904, he was elevated to the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada () is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, they compose the Bicameralism, bicameral le ...

, but remained Trade and Commerce minister until the fall of the Laurier government in the 1911 election. In this position he introduced, in 1908, a limited system of old age annuities. Additionally, he served as Leader of the Government in the Senate from 1909 until 1911, and as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from 1911 until his death in 1912.

Legacy

In the

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, ...

, area, Cartwright Street and Cartwright Point are named for him and his family, in recognition of their longstanding contributions to the region. He is honoured with commemorative plaques in Kingston on King Street (at his former residence) and in Memorial Hall, City Hall. His memories were preserved in his book Reminiscences, published in 1912.

Family

Sir Richard Cartwright's eldest son, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cartwright, studied at the

Royal Military College of Canada The Royal Military College of Canada (), abbreviated in English as RMC and in French as CMR, is a Military academy#Canada, military academy and, since 1959, a List of universities in Canada#Ontario, degree-granting university of the Canadian ...

from 1878 to 1881, where he won several academic prizes. He was a railway engineer in Manitoba. He served in the suppression of the 1885 Riel rebellion and in the

Boer war The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, where he was mentioned in dispatches four times. He served as assistant adjutant-general at militia headquarters and as a musketry officer during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Electoral record

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Notes

References

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External links

Cartwright family fonds
, Archives of Ontario {{DEFAULTSORT:Cartwright, Richard John 1835 births 1912 deaths Canadian Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Ministers of finance of Canada Ministers of trade and commerce of Canada Canadian senators from Ontario Leaders of the opposition in the Senate of Canada Canadian people of Anglo-Irish descent Canadian people of English descent Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs Liberal Party of Canada MPs Liberal Party of Canada senators Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Canadian members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Politicians from Kingston, Ontario Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada West 19th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada 20th-century members of the Senate of Canada 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada