Antoine Polette (August 24, 1807 – January 6, 1887) was a

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

lawyer, judge and political figure. He was born Antoine Paulet in Pointe-aux-Trembles,

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

in 1807 and studied at the

Petit Séminaire de Québec Petite or petite may refer to: *Petit (crater), a small, bowl-shaped lunar crater on Mare Spumans * ''Petit'' (EP), a 1995 EP by Japanese singer-songwriter Ua * Petit (typography), another name for brevier-size type *Petit four * Petit Gâteau *P ...

. He articled in law at

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

, was admitted to the bar in 1828 and set up practice in

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

. Polette served as warden for the county from 1842 to 1846 and then was mayor of Trois-Rivières from 1846 to 1853. He was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the legislature for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper C ...

for

as a Reformer in an 1848 by-election held after the preceding general election was not completed in that riding. He was reelected in 1851 and 1854 and retired from politics in 1857. Although Polette had originally supported the government of

Francis Hincks Sir Francis Hincks, (December 14, 1807 – August 18, 1885) was a Canadian businessman, politician, and British colonial administrator. An immigrant from Ireland, he was the Co-Premier of the Province of Canada (1851–1854), Governor of Barb ...

and Augustin-Norbert Morin, he participated in the defeat of this government in 1854 because of the unresolved issue of seigneurial tenure. In 1854, he was named

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

. Polette served as a judge in the

Quebec Superior Court The Superior Court of Quebec (french: Cour supérieure du Québec) is a superior trial court in the Province of Quebec, in Canada. It consists of 157 judges who are appointed by the federal government. Appeals from this court are taken to the Qu ...

for Trois-Rivières district from 1860 to 1880 and was a member of the royal commission that investigated the

Pacific Scandal The Pacific Scandal was a political scandal in Canada involving bribes being accepted by 150 members of the Conservative government in the attempts of private interests to influence the bidding for a national rail contract. As part of British Colum ...

in 1873. He died in Trois-Rivières in 1887.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Polette, Antoine 1807 births 1887 deaths Mayors of Trois-Rivières Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada East Judges in Quebec Canadian King's Counsel Petit Séminaire de Québec alumni