Born on November 10, 1845, Halifax,
Nova Scotia
Died on December 12, 1894, Windsor Castle, England
Buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia
© Heritage Recording Services |
John Thompson was a new prime minister with a record of achievement
and a promising future when he died suddenly in 1894. He was just
forty-nine years old.
© NAC PA-27084 |
Thompson had served briefly as premier of Nova Scotia before
being appointed to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court. When John A.
Macdonald recruited him to Ottawa in 1885, he quickly became a
leading member of the Conservative government. His achievements
included the first Criminal Code of Canada.
Thompson had been raised a Methodist
but converted to Roman Catholicism, the faith of his wife, Annie,
in 1871. Controversy over his conversion kept Thompson out of
the prime minister's office when Macdonald died but, upon John
Abbott's retirement eighteen months later, Thompson became the
first Catholic prime minister in Canada.
Sir John Thompson died December
12, 1894, at Windsor Castle, where Queen Victoria had just made
him a member of her Privy Council. He is buried at Holy Cross
Cemetery in Halifax.
Address of cemetery: 1259 South Park St, Halifax, NS
Location map
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