Charles Tupper

Charles Tupper (1896)

Sir Charles Tupper , GCMG , CB , PC , (born July 2, 1821 in Amherst , Nova Scotia , † October 30, 1915 in Bexleyheath , England ) was the sixth Prime Minister of Canada . He belonged to the Conservative Party and had the shortest term of any Canadian prime minister : It lasted only 69 days, from May 1 to July 8, 1896. As one of the fathers of the Confederation , he was one of the pioneers of the Canadian state founded in 1867.

biography

Tupper studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and received his doctorate in 1843. In 1846 he married Frances Morse (1826–1912), with whom he had three sons and three daughters. The second eldest son, Charles Hibbert Tupper , was Attorney General under Mackenzie Bowell , his father's predecessor. The youngest son, William Johnston Tupper , was Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba from 1934 to 1940 .

In 1855 Tupper was elected Member of Parliament for the British colony of Nova Scotia . He was a member of the Confederation Party, which advocated the annexation of Nova Scotia to the Canadian Confederation . From 1864 until joining the Confederation in 1867 he was Prime Minister of the Province. Tupper attended the Charlottetown Conference , the Québec Conference and the London Conference ; as one of the fathers of the Confederation , he is one of the pioneers of the Canadian state. In 1872 Prime Minister John Macdonald appointed him head of the national tax authority. In 1873 Tupper was Minister of Customs for a short time until the Pacific scandal toppled the government.

After the general election in 1878 , the Conservatives returned to power and Tupper became Minister of Public Works. In this role, he made decisive progress in building the Canadian Pacific Railway . From 1884 to 1887 he was Canadian High Commissioner in Great Britain (equivalent to the post of ambassador ). He then returned to Canada and became Treasury Secretary. But just a year later he took over the office of High Commissioner again.

In 1896 Mackenzie Bowell had to resign from the post of Prime Minister due to a serious government crisis. The conservative party agreed on Tupper as his successor. His job was to lead the party to an election victory that same year. Although the Conservatives achieved 46.5% of the vote and the Liberals only 45% in the General Election in 1896 , the latter had won more seats because of the majority vote. After only 69 days, Tupper had to resign in favor of Wilfrid Laurier .

In 1901 Tupper resigned as a member of parliament and moved to England for good. He died at the age of 94 years in Bexleyheath in the county of Kent (now part of London ). His remains were transferred to Halifax , Nova Scotia.

In April 2016, Tupper was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame .

See also

• 7. Canadian Cabinet

Web links

Commons : Charles Tupper  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Charles Tupper . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).
• Sir Charles Tupper ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
• Charles Tupper - biographical information on the website of the Canadian Parliament (English)
• Short biography from Library and Archives Canada

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Announcing our 2016 Inductees - Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. In: cdnmedhall.org. October 8, 2015, accessed June 22, 2016 .