George Stephens

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George Washington Stephens

George Washington Stephens (born September 22, 1832 in Swanton , Vermont , USA , † June 20, 1904 in Montreal , Canada ) was a Canadian lawyer , businessman , landowner and politician . He was particularly for his activities in the Parliament of the Province of Quebec known and as a member of the Cabinet under two prime ministers.

Career

Stephens was born in Vermont, a state bordering Canada, to Harrison Stephens (1801-1881) and Sarah Jackson. The father came from the small town of Jamaica in Vermont and had made a fortune there as a shoe manufacturer. In 1830 he settled in Montreal, where he worked as a retail salesman and started a family. George Stephens had two brothers, Romeo H. and Sheldon Samuel Stephens.

Stephens initially worked in the family's own retail business. In 1863 he graduated from the McGill University in Montreal and was a member of the Bar of Quebec, a 1849 founded the Bar Association in Quebec. After working in a law firm , he worked as an individual attorney. In 1868 Stephens was elected to the Montreal City Council, where he represented the Saint-Laurent borough. He was active in the city council with interruptions until 1892. During this time he was nicknamed "The Corporate Watch Dog" by the Canadian press.

In the elections to the Legislative Assembly of Québec in 1881, Stephens was elected as a candidate for the Parti libéral du Québec (PLQ) for the Montreal Center constituency. In 1886 he did not succeed in re-election, and in 1890 he ran again without success. It was not until 1892 that Stephens was re-elected, this time as representative for the city of Huntingdon . In 1896 he submitted a bill prohibiting the display of overly provocative theater advertisements.

His political career peaked in 1897 when he was appointed minister without portfolio to the cabinet of Félix-Gabriel Marchand , incumbent Prime Minister of the Province of Quebec. In 1900 he took on the same position under the new Prime Minister Simon-Napoléon Parent . In 1902 he was appointed Colonial Commissioner for the Province of Quebec.

family

In 1865 Stephens married the much younger Elizabeth Mary McIntosh, who had Scottish roots. They had a son, George Washington Stephens , Jr. (1866–1942). George Stephens Jr. reached the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Montreal Third Artillery and later also went into politics. He worked for the League of Nations and was, among other things, chairman of the government commission of the League of Nations in Saarland .

After the early death of his first wife, Stephens married her younger sister, Frances Ramsey McIntosh, in 1878 . With her he had another son, Francis Chattan Stephens (1887-1918). Chattan became a stockbroker and founded the FC Stephens & Company group. He married Hazel Beatrice Kemp, a daughter of the Canadian Minister Sir Edward Kemp . During the First World War he became a lieutenant in the 13th Canadian Battalion and served at the front in France. Chattan Stephens succumbed to the so-called Spanish flu in October 1918 .

George Stephens died in 1904 at the age of 71 and was buried in Montreal's Mont-Royal Cemetery. His widow Frances was killed in 1915 when the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Stephens, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stephens, George Washington
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH September 22, 1832
PLACE OF BIRTH Swanton, Vermont
DATE OF DEATH June 20, 1904
Place of death Montreal , Canada