View source for Alexander Campbell (Canadian senator)

{{Short description|Canadian Father of Confederation (1822–1892)}}
{{For|other Canadian politicians of the same name|Alexander Campbell (disambiguation)}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=March 2013}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Honourable]]
| name                = Sir Alexander Campbell
| honorific-suffix    = {{postnominals|country=CAN|size=100%|PC|KCMG|QC}}
| image               = Sir Alexander Campbell.jpg
| imagesize           = 
| office3             = Member of the [[Legislative Council of the Province of Canada]] for Cataraqui
| term_start3         = 1858
| term_end3           = 1867
| office2             = [[Senate of Canada|Senator]] for Cataraqui, Ontario<ref>{{ cite web | url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Files/Parliamentarian.aspx?Item=0ddd1e27-0568-4aa0-a1dc-2d2ccd31e2a9&Language=E | title=Federal Political Experience | publisher=www.parl.gc.ca | access-date=October 7, 2013}}</ref>
| term_start2         = October 23, 1867
| term_end2           = February 7, 1887
| order1              = 6th
| office1             = Lieutenant  Governor of Ontario
| predecessor1        = [[John Beverley Robinson]]
| successor1          = [[George Airey Kirkpatrick]]
| term_start1         = June 1, 1887
| term_end1           = May 24, 1892
| monarch1            = [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]]
| governor_general1   = [[Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne|The Marquess of Lansdowne]]<br>[[Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby|The Lord Stanley of Preston]]
| premier1            = [[Oliver Mowat]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1822|03|09}}
| birth_place         = [[Hedon]], [[Yorkshire]], England
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1892|05|24|1822|03|09}}
| death_place         = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]]
| resting_place       = [[Cataraqui Cemetery]], [[Kingston, Ontario]]
| nationality         = Canadian
| spouse              = 
| party               = [[Conservative Party of Canada (historical)|Conservative]]
| relations           = 
| children            = 
| residence           = 
| alma_mater          = 
| occupation          = 
| profession          = 
| cabinet             = Postmaster General (1885–1887)<br>Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada (1881–1885)<br>Postmaster General (1880–1881)<br>[[Minister of Militia and Defence]] (1880)<br>Postmaster General (1879–1880)<br>Receiver General (1878–1879)<br>Minister of the Interior (1873)<br>Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs (1873)<br>Minister of Inland Revenue (Acting) (1868–1869)<br>Postmaster General (1867–1873)<br>Commissioner of Crown Lands (Province of Canada) (1864–1867)
| committees          = 
| portfolio           = 
| religion            = 
| signature           = Alexander Campbell Signature.svg
| website             = 
| footnotes           = {{Father of Confederation footnote}}
}}
'''Sir Alexander Campbell''' {{postnominals|country=CAN|PC|KCMG|QC}} (March 9, 1822 – May 24, 1892) was an [[Upper Canada|Upper Canadian]] statesman and a father of [[Canadian Confederation]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.canadahistory.com/sections/eras/confederation/Fathers.html | title=The fathers of confederation | publisher=www.Canadahistory.com | access-date=October 4, 2013 | archive-date=November 24, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124003702/http://www.canadahistory.com/sections/eras/confederation/Fathers.html | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Alexander Campbell (1822-1892): The Travails of a Father of Confederation - Ged Martin |url=https://www.gedmartin.net/published-work-mainmenu-11/249-alexander-campbell-1822-1892-the-travails-of-a-father-of-confederation |access-date=2024-03-06 |website=www.gedmartin.net}}</ref>

==Life==
Born in [[Hedon]], [[Yorkshire]], he was brought to Canada by his father, James Campbell who was a doctor, when he was one year old.  He was educated in [[French language|French]] at [[St. Hyacinthe]] in [[Quebec]] and in the grammar school at [[Kingston, Ontario]].  Campbell studied law and was [[called to the bar]] in 1843.  He became a partner in [[John A. Macdonald]]'s law office.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.canadahistory.com/sections/eras/confederation/Fathers/Alexander%20Campbell.html | title=Alexander Campbell | publisher=www.canadahistory.com | access-date=October 4, 2013 | archive-date=May 28, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180528164722/http://www.canadahistory.com/sections/eras/confederation/Fathers/Alexander | url-status=dead }}</ref>

Campbell was a [[Freemasonry in Canada|Freemason]] of St. John's Lodge, No. 3 (Ontario) of Kingston (now The Ancient St. John's No. 3). When the government was moved to Quebec in 1858, Campbell resigned.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://grandlodge.on.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=378&catid=42|title=Canada's Sesquicentennial – Freemasonry and Confederation|publisher=Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Canada in the Province of Ontario|author=Michael Jenkyns|date=July 2017|access-date=19 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205195647/https://grandlodge.on.ca/index.php/official-website/300-years-of-freemasonry/378-freemasonry-and-confederation|archive-date=5 December 2018}}</ref>

He was elected to the [[Legislative Council of the Province of Canada]] in 1858 and 1864, and served as the last [[Commissioner of Crown Lands (Province of Canada)|Commissioner of Crown Lands]] 30 March 1864 – 30 June 1867. He attended the Charlottetown Conference and the [[Quebec Conference, 1864|Quebec City Conference in 1864]], and at Confederation was appointed to the [[Senate of Canada]]. He later held a number of ministerial posts in the [[Canadian Cabinet|Cabinet]] of Prime Minister John A. Macdonald and was the [[List of lieutenant governors of Ontario#Lieutenant Governors of Ontario, 1867-present|sixth]] [[Lieutenant Governor of Ontario]] from 1887 to 1892.<ref>{{ cite web | url=http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/rech-srch/clic-click.aspx?/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=0&page_id=14827&query=Sir%20Alexander%20Campbell&hiword=ALEXANDERS%20ALEXANDRE%20Alexander%20CAMPBELLS%20Campbell%20Sir | title=Campbell, Sir Alexander National Historic Person | publisher=[[Parks Canada]] | date=15 March 2012 | access-date=10 April 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004220651/http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/rech-srch/clic-click.aspx?%2Fcgi-bin%2FMsmGo.exe%3Fgrab_id=0&page_id=14827&query=Sir%20Alexander%20Campbell&hiword=ALEXANDERS%20ALEXANDRE%20Alexander%20CAMPBELLS%20Campbell%20Sir | archive-date=2013-10-04 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

Historian Ged Martin discussed the reasons why Campbell never achieved first rank as a politician; he was lame and suffered from epileptic seizures, and his estranged wife was a certified lunatic (see Family section below).

In 1883, he built his home on [[Metcalfe Street (Ottawa)|Metcalfe Street]], Ottawa, now known as "Campbell House".
[[File:Campbell House (Ottawa).JPG|thumb|left|Campbell House, 236 Metcalfe Street, Ottawa]]

He died in office in [[Toronto]] in 1892, and was buried at [[Cataraqui Cemetery]] in Kingston, Ontario.<ref name="dnb">{{cite DNBSupp|wstitle=Campbell, Alexander (1822-1892)<!-- NB dash not ndash on wikisource-->|display=Campbell, Alexander (1822–1892)|first=Thomas Blair|last=Browning}}</ref>

Campbell Crescent in Kingston, a street in the Portsmouth municipal district, is named in his honour.

==Family==
In 1855, Campbell married Georgina Frederica Locke, daughter of Thomas Sandwith of [[Beverley, Yorkshire]], and a niece of [[Humphrey Sandwith III]] (1792–1874) of [[Bridlington]].<ref name="dnb"/> As Ged Martin has detailed in an article on Campbell's private life, the marriage was a failure and his estranged wife spent time in asylums as a certified lunatic. He left two sons (the eldest was [[Charles Sandwith Campbell]]) and three daughters.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alexander Campbell (1822-1892): The Travails of a Father of Confederation - Ged Martin |url=https://www.gedmartin.net/published-work-mainmenu-11/249-alexander-campbell-1822-1892-the-travails-of-a-father-of-confederation |access-date=2024-03-06 |website=www.gedmartin.net}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Canadabio|ID=6013 |name=Alexander Campbell}}
* {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=3004|2=Alexander Campbell}}
* Ged Martin, Alexander Campbell (1822–1892): The Travails of a Father of Confederation | https://www.gedmartin.net/published-work-mainmenu-11/249-alexander-campbell-1822-1892-the-travails-of-a-father-of-confederation. Published in Ontario History (Spring 2013) https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/onhistory/2013-v105-n1-onhistory03918/1050744ar/
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110930155406/http://www.driffield.org.uk/CelebritiesYorksWolds.html Humphrey Sandwith]
* {{gutenberg author|id=8656|name=Alexander Campbell}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Sir Alexander Campbell |birth=1822 |death=1892 |sopt=t }}
* {{Librivox author |id=8324}}
*[https://aims.archives.gov.on.ca/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/DESCRIPTION_WEB/WEB_DESC_DET?SESSIONSEARCH&exp=sisn%20149 Alexander Campbell fonds], Archives of Ontario
* Ged Martin, Alexander Campbell (1822–1892): Travails of a Father of Confederation https://www.gedmartin.net/published-work-mainmenu-11/249-alexander-campbell-1822-1892-the-travails-of-a-father-of-confederation

{{s-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{s-bef|before=[[John Beverly Robinson]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Lieutenant Governor of Ontario]]|years=1887–1892}}
{{s-aft|after=[[George Airey Kirkpatrick]]}}
{{s-par|ca}}
{{succession box
| before = ''office created''
| title  = [[Leader of the Government in the Senate (Canada)|Leader of the Government in the Senate of Canada]]
| years  = 1867–1873
| after  = [[Luc Letellier de St-Just]]
}}
{{succession box
| before = [[Luc Letellier de St-Just]]
| title  = [[Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (Canada)|Leader of the Opposition in the Senate of Canada]]
| years  = 1873–1878
| after  = [[Richard William Scott|Sir Richard William Scott]]
}}
{{succession box
| before = [[Richard William Scott|Sir Richard William Scott]]
| title  = [[Leader of the Government in the Senate (Canada)|Leader of the Government in the Senate of Canada]]
| years  = 1878–1887
| after  = [[John Joseph Caldwell Abbott|John Abbott]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{CA-Postmasters General}}
{{CA-Ministers-of-the-Interior}}
{{CA-Ministers of Justice and Attorneys General}}
{{CA-Ministers of Defence}}
{{CA-Ministers of Inland Revenue}}
{{CA-Superintendents-General of Indian Affairs}}
{{CA-Leaders of the Government in the Senate}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Alexander}}
[[Category:1822 births]]
[[Category:1892 deaths]]
[[Category:Anglo-Scots]]
[[Category:Canadian senators from Ontario]]
[[Category:Leaders of the opposition in the Senate of Canada]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:English emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario]]
[[Category:English Anglicans]]
[[Category:Fathers of Confederation]]
[[Category:Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) senators]]
[[Category:Canadian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
[[Category:Canadian King's Counsel]]
[[Category:Lieutenant governors of Ontario]]
[[Category:Members of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada]]
[[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]]
[[Category:People from Hedon]]
[[Category:Politicians from Kingston, Ontario]]
[[Category:Postmasters general of Canada]]
[[Category:Anglophone Quebec people]]
[[Category:Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)]]
[[Category:Immigrants to Upper Canada]]
[[Category:Canadian Freemasons]]