View source for Edward Blake

{{Short description|Canadian politician (1833–1912)}}
{{about|the Canadian politician|the American politician and businessman|Edward Reed Blake|the DC Comics character|Comedian (character)}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Honourable]]
| name                = Edward Blake
| honorific-suffix    = [[King's Privy Council for Canada|PC]] [[King's Counsel|KC]]
| image               = Edward Blake.jpg
| caption             = Blake in the 1870s
| order               = 2nd
| office              = Premier of Ontario
| monarch             = [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]]
| lieutenant_governor = William Pearce Howland
| deputy              = [[William Pearce Howland]]
| term_start          = 20 December 1871
| term_end            = 25 October 1872
| predecessor         = [[John Sandfield Macdonald]]
| successor           = [[Oliver Mowat]]
| office1             = [[Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada)|Leader of the Opposition]]
| predecessor1       = [[Alexander Mackenzie (politician)|Alexander Mackenzie]]
| successor1         = [[Wilfrid Laurier]]
| term_start1        = 4 May 1880
| term_end1          = 2 June 1887
| office3            = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (United Kingdom) <br /> for [[South Longford (UK Parliament constituency)|South Longford]]
| predecessor3       = [[James Gubbins Fitzgerald]]
| successor3         = [[John Phillips (Irish politician)|John Phillips]]
| term_start3        = July 1892
| term_end3          = August 1907
| party              = {{Plainlist|
* [[Ontario Liberal Party]]
* [[Liberal Party of Canada]]}}
| otherparty         = {{Plainlist|
* [[Irish National Federation]] (1892-1900)<ref name=NYT>{{cite web |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1894/02/09/106866976.pdf |title=Reception to Edward Blake, M.P. |access-date=2009-02-08 |work=The New York Times |date=9 February 1894}}</ref>
* [[Irish Parliamentary Party]] (1900-1907)}}
| birth_name          = Dominick Edward Blake
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=yes|1833|10|13}}
| birth_place         = Adelaide Township, [[Upper Canada]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=yes|1912|03|01|1833|10|13}}
| death_place         = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], Canada
| resting_place       = [[St. James Cemetery (Toronto)|Saint James Cemetery]], Toronto
| spouse              = Margaret Cronyn
| relations           = {{Plainlist|
* [[Samuel Hume Blake]], brother
* [[William Hume Blake]], father
* [[Benjamin Cronyn]], father-in-law
* [[George MacKinnon Wrong]], son-in-law
* [[H. H. Wrong]], grandson}}
| signature           = Edward Blake Signature.svg
}}
'''Dominick Edward Blake''' {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|KC}} (13 October 1833 – 1 March 1912) was a Canadian politician and lawyer who was the second [[premier of Ontario]] from 1871 to 1872 and leader of the [[Liberal Party of Canada]] from 1880 to 1887.<ref>{{cite web|title=Blake, Edward, 1833–1912|url=http://ao.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/18525/1/2/6559?RECORD&DATABASE=AUTH_JOIN|publisher=Archives of Ontario|access-date=30 April 2016|archive-date=18 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181018122428/http://ao.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/18525/1/2/6559?RECORD&DATABASE=AUTH_JOIN|url-status=dead}}</ref> He is one of three federal permanent Liberal leaders never to become [[Prime Minister of Canada]], the others being [[Stéphane Dion]] and the latter's immediate successor [[Michael Ignatieff]]. He may be said to have served in the national politics of what developed as the affairs of three nationalities: Canadian, British, and Irish. Blake was also the founder, in 1856, of the Canadian law firm now known as [[Blake, Cassels & Graydon|Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP]].

After retiring from Canadian politics, Blake served four terms as an MP in the [[United Kingdom Parliament]] representating the [[Irish National Federation]] and then the [[Irish Parliamentary Party]].

==Early years==
Blake was born in 1833, in [[Adelaide Metcalfe|Adelaide Township]], [[Middlesex County, Ontario|Middlesex County]], [[Upper Canada]], the son of [[William Hume Blake]] and Catherine Honoria Hume. Blake moved with his family in 1834 to Toronto and was educated at [[Upper Canada College]].<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Blake, Edward|volume=4|page=35}}</ref>

In 1856, after Blake was [[called to the bar]], he entered into partnership with Stephen M. Jarvis in Toronto to practice law. When his brother [[Samuel Hume Blake]] joined soon thereafter, the firm became Blake & Blake. Today it is known as [[Blake, Cassels & Graydon]].<ref name=BCG>{{cite web|url=http://www.blakes.com/english/annualreview/BLAKES_book&insert.pdf|title=Annual Review 2005/06: Making History|work=Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928132414/http://www.blakes.com/english/annualreview/BLAKES_book%26insert.pdf|archive-date=2007-09-28}}</ref>

As a consequence of the ruling of the [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]] in ''Long v The Bishop of Cape Town'',<ref>{{cite CommonLII|litigants=The Rev William Long v The Right Rev Robert Gray, Lord Bishop of Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope|link=|reporter=ER|year=1863|num=277|volume=15|firstpage=756|parallelcite=1 Moo NS 411|date=13 February 1863|courtname=PC|juris=UK}}</ref> Blake offered a legal opinion to [[Benjamin Cronyn]] (then Bishop of the [[Anglican Diocese of Huron]]) on the legality of the convening of a [[Synod|Provincial Synod]] of the various Dioceses of the [[Ecclesiastical Province of Canada]] by [[Francis Fulford (bishop)|Francis Fulford]] (then [[Anglican Diocese of Montreal|Bishop of Montreal]] and Metropolitan of Canada). He determined that the concurrence of all of the Dioceses of the Ecclesiastical Province would be required prior to the creation of the Provincial Synod, and therefore no such Synod could legally be convened until the entity first existed. This opinion was read into the Minutes of the seventh session of the Synod of the Diocese of Huron which convened in June 1864.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/minutessessions00hurogoog|title=Proceedings [afterw.] Journal of the synod (of the Church of England). First (-fortieth, forty-second - forty-fourth, sixty-seventh, seventy-first, seventy-third - seventy-sixth, eightieth) session|chapter = Seventh Session (1864)|page = [https://archive.org/details/minutessessions00hurogoog/page/n73 93]|publisher = Diocese of Huron|date = 1868}}</ref>

==Political career==
[[File:Edward Blake Vanity Fair 11 January 1894.jpg|thumb|left|Blake in 1894, as British MP]]

===Canada===
Blake was recruited into active politics by [[George Brown (Canadian politician)|George Brown]], elected Member of the Provincial Parliament ([[Durham West (provincial electoral district)|Durham West]] and [[Bruce South (provincial electoral district)|Bruce South]]) became leader of the [[Ontario Liberal Party]] in 1868 and premier in 1871, but left provincial politics to run in the [[1872 Canadian federal election|1872 federal election]], in which he was re-elected.  The "[[dual mandate]]" rule that allowed a politician to sit simultaneously in a provincial and federal house had been abolished, and Blake chose to abandon his career in provincial politics. He played a major role in exposing the government of Sir [[John A. Macdonald]]'s complicity in the [[Pacific Scandal]] forcing the government's resignation. Blake was offered the prime ministership, but turned it down due to ill health.

When the Liberals won the subsequent [[1874 Canadian federal election|1874 federal election]], Blake joined the [[Cabinet of Canada|cabinet]] of Prime Minister [[Alexander Mackenzie (politician)|Alexander Mackenzie]] and served as [[Minister of Justice (Canada)|Minister of Justice]] and [[President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada]].

From 1876 to 1900, he was the chancellor of the [[University of Toronto]].

The Liberals were defeated in the [[1878 Canadian federal election|1878 election]], and Blake succeeded Mackenzie as party leader in 1880. He failed to defeat Macdonald's [[Conservative Party of Canada (historical)|Conservatives]] in the [[1882 Canadian federal election|1882]] or [[1887 Canadian federal election|1887 elections]]. Blake resigned as Liberal leader in 1887, recruiting [[Wilfrid Laurier]] as his successor, and left the [[House of Commons of Canada]] in 1891.

===Ireland===
[[1892 United Kingdom general election|In the 1892 election]], Blake entered the [[British House of Commons]] as an [[Nationalist Party (Ireland)|Irish Nationalist]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for the constituency of [[South Longford (UK Parliament constituency)|South Longford]] in the midlands of [[Ireland]]. In 1895, he was appointed to the Royal Commission on the Financial Relations between Great Britain and Ireland, which reported in 1896.<ref>{{cite book |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= Final Report of Her Majesty's Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Financial Relations between Great Britain and Ireland|url= https://archive.org/stream/op1253503-1001#page/n0/mode/2up|location= London|publisher= [[Her Majesty's Stationery Office]]|date= 1896}}</ref>

Laurier sought several times for Blake's return to Canada by offering him nominations for the [[Supreme Court of Canada|Supreme Court]] and other judicial appointments. However, Blake felt committed to his new role and was particularly committed to [[Irish Home Rule movement|home rule in Ireland]]. His idea of an Irish nation state within a federal empire met with little support.

In May 1907 he suffered a [[stroke]] and was partially paralyzed on the left side of his body. He left the British House of Commons in August 1907 upon his appointment as the [[List of stewards of the Chiltern Hundreds|Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds]] (a [[sinecure]] office used to effect resignation) and retired to Canada.

==Contributions to Canadian federalism==
He is perhaps best remembered for the arguments that he made to the [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]] in favour of the Provinces in interpreting the [[British North America Act 1867|''British North America Act'']]. In 1888, he argued the case of ''[[St Catharines Milling and Lumber Co v R|St. Catharines Milling v. The Queen]]'' in which the federal government was claiming the right to issue timber licenses. This speech was quoted in its entirety in the 1960 report of the Quebec [[Royal Commission of Inquiry on Constitutional Problems]], which influenced many Quebecers, including [[René Lévesque]]:

{{cquote|
The word federal is the key which unlocks the clauses and reveals their contents. It is the glass that enables us to discern what is written. By its light the Act must be construed&nbsp;...

What then was the general scheme of this Act? First of all, as I suggest, it was to create a federal as distinguished from a legislative union, but a union composed of several existing and continuing entities. It was not the intention of Parliament to mutilate, confound and destroy the provinces mentioned in the preamble, and having from their mangled remains stewed in some legislative cauldron, to evoke by some legislative incantation absolutely new provinces into an absolutely new existence&nbsp;... it was the design, I say,&nbsp;... by gentle and considerate terms to preserve the vital breath and continue the political existence of the old provinces. However this may be, they were being made, as has been well said, not fractions of a unit but units of a multiple. The Dominion is the multiple and each province is a unit of that multiple&nbsp;...<ref>{{cite book|author = Edward Blake|title = The St. Catharine's Milling and Lumber Company v. the Queen: Argument of Mr. Blake, of counsel for Ontario|url = https://archive.org/stream/cihm_00164#page/6/mode/2up|page = 6|publisher = Press of the Budget|year = 1888|location = Toronto| isbn=9780665001642 }}</ref>}}

He won the case, and the Privy Council consistently afterwards took the side of the provinces.

==Family==
[[File:Mrs Margaret Blake wife of Edward Blake.jpg|thumb|right|Mrs Margaret Blake wife of Edward Blake]]
Edward Blake married Margaret Cronyn, the daughter of [[Benjamin Cronyn]] and Margaret Ann (Bickerstaff), in 1856. She was born in 1835 and was educated at [[London, Ontario]] and in [[Toronto]]. Mrs. Blake practiced benevolent and other useful work. She was a member of the Toronto Ladies' Educational Association and served as the Honorary President of the Canadian Branch of the McAll Association in Toronto. She also frequently accompanied her husband on his political tours. The couple had seven children, four of whom survived them.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Morgan |editor-first=Henry James |editor-link=Henry James Morgan |title=Types of Canadian Women and of Women who are or have been Connected with Canada |location=Toronto |publisher=Williams Briggs |date=1903 |url=https://archive.org/details/typesofcanadianw01morguoft |page=[https://archive.org/details/typesofcanadianw01morguoft/page/29 29]}}</ref> Their daughter Sophia Hume Blake married [[George M. Wrong]] and was the mother of [[Hume Wrong]].{{fact|date=June 2025}}

== Archives ==
The personal and family papers of Edward Blake <ref>{{cite archive|type=Textual records and graphic material|date=predominant 1809-1917|fonds=F 2|collection=Edward Blake family fonds|collection-url=https://aims.archives.gov.on.ca/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/DESCRIPTION_WEB/WEB_DESC_DET?SESSIONSEARCH&exp=sisn%20130|institution=Archives of Ontario}}</ref> can be found at the [[Archives of Ontario]], and the majority of these records were received on indefinite loan from the [[University of Toronto Libraries|University of Toronto Library]] in June 1952. There are also Edward Blake archives at the [[University of Toronto]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Edward Blake fonds, University of Toronto|url=https://discoverarchives.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/edward-blake-fonds|access-date=2020-08-31}}</ref> and [[Library and Archives Canada]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Edward Blake fonds, Library and Archives Canada|date = 20 July 2017|url=http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=104789&lang=eng|access-date=2020-08-31}}</ref>

== Electoral history ==
=== United Kingdom (Ireland)===

{{Election box begin |
  |title=[[1892 United Kingdom general election in Ireland|UK general election 13 July 1892]]: Longford South<ref name="walker"/>}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link|
  |party      = Irish National Federation
  |candidate  = Edward Blake
  |votes      = 2,544
  |percentage = 88.0
  |change     = ''N/A''
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
  |party      = Liberal Unionist Party
  |candidate  = George Henry Miller
  |votes      = 347
  |percentage = 12.0
  |change     = ''New''
}}
{{Election box majority|
  |votes      = 2,197
  |percentage = 76.0
  |change     = ''N/A''
}}
{{Election box turnout|
  |votes      = 2,891
  |percentage = 62.7
  |change     = ''N/A''
}}
{{Election box registered electors|
 |reg. electors = 4,614
}}
{{Election box gain with party link|
  |winner     = Irish National Federation
  |loser     = Irish Parliamentary Party
  |swing      = ''N/A''
}}
{{Election box end}} 
{{Election box begin |
  |title=[[1895 United Kingdom general election in Ireland|UK general election 19 July 1895]]: Longford South<ref name="walker"/>}}
{{Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link|
  |party      = Irish National Federation
  |candidate  = Edward Blake
}}
{{Election box registered electors|
  |reg. electors     = 4,604 
}}
{{Election box hold with party link no swing|
  |winner     = Irish National Federation
}}
{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin |
  |title=[[1900 United Kingdom general election in Ireland|UK general election 4 October 1900]]: Longford South<ref name="walker"/>}}
{{Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link|
  |party      = Irish Parliamentary Party
  |candidate  = Edward Blake
}}
{{Election box registered electors|
  |reg. electors     = 4,212
}}
{{Election box hold with party link no swing|
  |winner     = Irish Parliamentary Party
}}
{{Election box end}} 
{{Election box begin |
  |title=[[1906 United Kingdom general election in Ireland|UK general election 17 January 1906]]: Longford South<ref name="walker"/>}}
{{Election box winning candidate unopposed with party link|
  |party      = Irish Parliamentary Party
  |candidate  = Edward Blake
}}
{{Election box registered electors|
  |reg. electors      = 3,744
}}
{{Election box hold with party link no swing|
  |winner     = Irish Parliamentary Party
}}
{{Election box end}}

=== Federal (Canada) ===
{{1872 Canadian federal election/Bruce South}}

On Mr. Blake's appointment as Minister without Portfolio, 7 November 1873:
{{CanElec1-by|14 December 1873}}
{{CANelec|CA|Liberal|Edward Blake  | acclaimed  }}
{{end}}
{{1874/Canadian federal election/Bruce South}}

By-Election:   On Mr. Blake's appointment as Minister of Justice, 19 May 1875:
{{CanElec1-by|2 June 1875}}
{{CANelec|CA|Liberal|Edward Blake  |acclaimed  }}
{{end}}
{{1878/Canadian federal election/Bruce South}}

=== Provincial (Ontario) ===
==== Bruce South ====
{{1867 Ontario general election/Bruce South}}
{{1871 Ontario general election/Bruce South}}
{{1872 Ontario provincial by-elections/Bruce South}}

==== Durham West ====
{{1871 Ontario general election/Durham West}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Archival records|title=Edward Blake fonds}}

{{Commons category|Edward Blake}}
* {{cite DCB |title=Blake, Edward |first=Ben |last=Forster |first2=Jonathan |last2=Swainger |volume=14 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/blake_edward_14E.html}}
* {{Ontario MPP biography|id=edward-blake|old_id=465|name=Edward Blake}}
* [https://aims.archives.gov.on.ca/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/DESCRIPTION_WEB/WEB_DESC_DET?SESSIONSEARCH&exp=sisn%20130 Edward Blake family fonds], Archives of Ontario
* {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=4917}}
* Ronan O'Brien, [http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2007/0813/1186781453291.html "An Irishman's Diary"], ''Irish Times'', 13 August 2007 (subscription required)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181127/http://ontarioplaques.com/Plaques_MNO/Plaque_Middlesex34.html ''Ontario's Historical Plaques'']
*[https://discoverarchives.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/edward-blake-fonds Edward Blake archival papers] held at the [https://utarms.library.utoronto.ca/ University of Toronto Archives and Record Management Services]
* {{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Blake, William Hume|year=1900 |short=x |notaref=x|pages=285-286 |first=Neil |last=Macdonald}}

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 | title=[[Ontario Liberal Party|Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party]]
 | years=1868–1872
 | after=[[Oliver Mowat]]
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 | before=[[Alexander Mackenzie (politician)|Alexander Mackenzie]]
 | title=[[Liberal Party of Canada|Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada]]
 | years=1880–1887
 | after=[[Wilfrid Laurier]]
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 | title=[[Leader of the Opposition (Ontario)|Leader of the Opposition<br /> Ontario Legislative Assembly]]
 | years=1869–1871
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 | before=[[John Sandfield Macdonald]]
 | title=[[List of Ontario premiers|Premier of Ontario]]
 | years=1871–1872
 | after=[[Oliver Mowat]]
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 | before=[[Télesphore Fournier]]
 | title=[[Minister of Justice (Canada)|Federal Minister of Justice]]
 | years=1875–1877
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 | before=[[Joseph-Édouard Cauchon]]
 | title=[[President of the Privy Council]]
 | years=1877–1878
 | after=[[John O'Connor (Canadian politician)|John O'Connor]]
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 | before=[[Alexander Mackenzie (politician)|Alexander Mackenzie]]
 | title=[[Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada)|Leader of the Opposition]]
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 | after=[[Wilfrid Laurier]]
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 | before=''none''
 | title=[[Durham West|MP for Durham West, ON]]
 | after=[[Edmund Burke Wood]]
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 | before=[[Francis Hurdon]]
 | title=[[Bruce South (federal electoral district)|MP for Bruce South, ON]]
 | after=[[Alexander Shaw (Canadian politician)|Alexander Shaw]]
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 | title=[[Durham West|MP for Durham West, ON]]
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{{succession box
 | title  = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[South Longford (UK Parliament constituency)|South Longford]]
 | years  = [[1892 United Kingdom general election|1892]]–[[1906 United Kingdom general election|1906]]
 | before = [[James Gubbins Fitzgerald]]
 | after  = [[John Phillips (Irish politician)|John Phillips]]
}}
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 | before=[[Joseph Curran Morrison]]
 | title=[[Chancellor (education)|Chancellor]] of the [[University of Toronto]]
 | years=1876–1900
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{{Leaders of the Liberal Party of Canada}}
{{Ontario Liberal Leaders}}
{{ONPremiers}}
{{CA-Ministers of Justice and Attorneys General}}
{{CA-Presidents of the Privy Council}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Edward}}
[[Category:1833 births]]
[[Category:1912 deaths]]
[[Category:Anti-Parnellite MPs]]
[[Category:Canadian Anglicans]]
[[Category:Canadian nationalists]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Anglo-Irish descent]]
[[Category:Canadian King's Counsel]]
[[Category:Chancellors of the University of Toronto]]
[[Category:Irish nationalists]]
[[Category:Irish Parliamentary Party MPs]]
[[Category:Lawyers in Ontario]]
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[[Category:Leaders of the Ontario Liberal Party]]
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[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario]]
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[[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]]
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