View source for William Henry Draper (judge)

{{Short description|Co-premier of the Province of Canada}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name         = William Henry Draper
| image        = William Henry Draper (1801-1877).jpg
| caption      = 
| office       = [[Joint Premier of the Province of Canada]]
| term_start   = 12 December 1843
| term_end     = 28 May 1847
| alongside    = <br />[[Denis-Benjamin Viger]] (1843–1846)<br />[[Denis-Benjamin Papineau]] (1846–1848)
| predecessor  = [[Dominick Daly]] (acting)
| successor    = [[Henry Sherwood]]
| term_start1  = 5 February 1841
| term_end1    = 14 September 1842
| alongside1   = <br />[[Samuel Harrison]] (1841–1842)<br />[[Charles Richard Ogden]] (1842)
| predecessor1 = Office established
| successor1   = [[Robert Baldwin]]
| office3      = Member of the [[Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada]]
| term_start3  = 1836
| term_end3    = 1840
| predecessor3 = [[James Edward Small]]
| successor3   = Office abolished
| constituency3= [[Old Toronto|Toronto]]
| office2      = Member of the [[Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada]]
| term_start2  = 1841
| term_end2    = 1843
| predecessor2 = Office established
| successor2   = [[Stewart Derbishire]]
| constituency2= [[Russell (Province of Canada electoral district)|Russell]]
| party        = Moderate Conservative
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1801|3|11|mf=y}}
| birth_place  = [[London]], [[England]]
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1877|11|3|1801|3|11}}
| death_place  = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]]
| profession   = Lawyer
| spouse       = Mary White
| children     = William George Draper<br />[[Francis Collier Draper]]
}}

'''William Henry Draper''' (March 11, 1801 &ndash; November 3, 1877) was a lawyer, judge, and politician in [[Upper Canada]], later [[Canada West]].

==Personal life==
He was born near [[London]], [[England]], in 1801, the son of Rev. Henry Draper and Mary Louisa. He joined the [[East India Company]] at age 15 and made at least two voyages to [[India]].

In 1820, he settled in [[Port Hope, Ontario|Port Hope]], [[Upper Canada]]. Draper married Augusta "Mary" White in [[York, Toronto|York, Upper Canada]], in 1826<ref>[http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/discover/historicimagesgallery;jsessionid=6BC1AA9A5DFFA5F4145988175888EC67.node1-1?paf_gear_id=13200032&imageId=11100073n&index=345&returnUrl=%2Fportal%2Fdiscover%2Fhistoricimagesgallery%3Bjsessionid%3D6BC1AA9A5DFFA5F4145988175888EC67.node1-1%3Fstart%3D341 "Document: Marriage Licence - William Henry Draper & Augusta White January 10 1826", Museums of Mississauga. Retrieved April 17, 2019.]</ref> with whom he had several children, including William George Draper and [[Francis Collier Draper]], both of whom were well-known lawyers; the latter also served as [[Toronto Police Service|chief of police]] in [[Toronto]].

He died in [[Yorkville, Toronto|Yorkville]] (now part of [[Toronto]]) in 1877.

==Legal career==
In 1822, he started to study law under Thomas Ward in [[Port Hope, Ontario|Port Hope]]. He then moved to [[Cobourg, Ontario|Cobourg]] and finished his articles in the office of [[George Strange Boulton]]. In 1828, Draper was called to the bar of the [[Law Society of Upper Canada]]. In 1829, he secured a position in the office of [[John Beverley Robinson (Upper Canada politician)|John Beverley Robinson]] and then partnered with Solicitor General [[Christopher Alexander Hagerman]].

==Political career==
He was elected to the [[13th Parliament of Upper Canada]] and represented [[Toronto]] in 1836. Later that year, he was appointed to the [[Executive Council of Upper Canada|Executive Council]] and the following year became solicitor general. Draper handled many of the prosecutions following the [[Upper Canada Rebellion]] of 1837.

By 1839, he had broken with his [[Family Compact]] friends and set his political goal: "To found a party on a larger basis than ever had been formed before." In 1840, he became attorney general for Upper Canada. Draper supported the union of Upper and [[Lower Canada]] on economic grounds and also believed that because the British government favoured the union, it would be better to participate in the process than to criticize it from the sidelines. He was elected to the 1st Parliament of the United Canadas as a moderate conservative and continued as attorney general for Canada West, a member of the Executive Council, and a co-leader of the government in the Assembly along with the moderate liberal [[Samuel Harrison]]. Although his first attempts to establish a conservative alliance with French Canadians failed, Draper played an important role in enabling [[Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine]] to take office in 1842, even at the cost of resigning himself and of seeing [[Robert Baldwin]] succeed him as attorney general for Canada West.

Draper resumed leading the government 13 December 1843 jointly with [[Denis-Benjamin Viger]]. At the next election, in 1844, the supporters of Draper, Viger and Governor [[Charles Metcalfe, 1st Baron Metcalfe|Charles Metcalfe]], including the young [[John A. Macdonald]], won a majority. He continued as government leader until 1847. During this period, legislation was passed dealing with schools in both Canada East and Canada West, but Draper's attempt to establish a University of Upper Canada failed. Draper helped Macdonald gain recognition by naming him to a cabinet post.

In 1847, with the arrival of [[James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin|Lord Elgin]], Draper resigned from the position of attorney general and became a judge of the Court of Queen's Bench. In 1856, he became chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas of Upper Canada, and in 1869, he became chief justice of the Court of Error and Appeal in [[Ontario]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=4957 Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'']

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{{s-npo|pro}}
{{s-bef|before=[[George William Allan]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=President of the [[Royal Canadian Institute]]|years=}}
{{s-aft|after=Sir [[Oliver Mowat]]}}
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{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box|
 before=[[Samuel Harrison]]|
 title=[[Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada]]|
 years=1841&ndash;1842|
 after=William Henry Draper as Joint Premiers of the Provinces of Canada
}}
{{succession box|
 before= Sir William Henry Draper as Prime Minister of the Provinces of Canada|
 title=[[Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada]] - Canada West|
 years=1842|
 after=[[Robert Baldwin]]
}}
{{succession box|
 before= [[Robert Baldwin]]|
 title=[[Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada]] - Canada West|
 years=1843&ndash;1847|
 after=[[Henry Sherwood]]
}}
{{s-legal}}
{{succession box|
before=Sir [[John Beverley Robinson, 1st Baronet]]<br/>1829&ndash;1862|
title=[[Chief Justice of Ontario|Chief Justice of Canada West]] |
years='''1862&ndash;1867''' |
after=[[Chief Justice of Ontario]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Canadian First Ministers}}
{{Ontario Attorneys General}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Draper, William}}
[[Category:1801 births]]
[[Category:1877 deaths]]
[[Category:Members of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada]]
[[Category:Premiers of the Province of Canada]]
[[Category:Members of the Executive Council of the Province of Canada]]
[[Category:Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada West]]
[[Category:Treasurers of the Law Society of Upper Canada]]
[[Category:Attorneys-general of Upper Canada]]
[[Category:Attorneys-general of the Province of Canada]]
[[Category:Chief justices of Upper Canada|Draper, William]]
[[Category:19th-century Canadian lawyers]]