Francis Evans Cornish (February 1, 1831 – November 28, 1878) was a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
politician. He served as
Mayor of London, Canada West, in the early 1860s, became the first
Mayor of Winnipeg
The mayor of Winnipeg is a member of Winnipeg City Council, but does not represent a ward.
The position of mayor was created in 1873 following the incorporation of Winnipeg. Since 1998, the term of office has been for four years.
The 44th and cu ...
in 1874, and was for a time a member of the
Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (french: Assemblée législative du Manitoba) is the deliberative assembly of the Manitoba Legislature in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly at provincial gen ...
.
Early life and education
Cornish was born in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
(then in
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...
), to a family that had moved to Canada from
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
twelve years earlier. He was educated in London, articled in law, and was called to the
bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
of
Canada West
The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the ...
in 1855. At age 26, he was appointed a
QC. He was a successful lawyer, and was involved in the local
masonic
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
and
Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
lodges.
Political career
London was incorporated as a city in 1855, and Cornish was elected as an alderman in its seventh ward three years later. He was re-elected in 1859 and 1860. In May 1860, Cornish ran as a
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
candidate in the riding of
Middlesex East
Middlesex East was a former federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1968. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867, which divided the County of Middlesex into th ...
, in a
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
for the
Province of Canada's legislature. He was defeated by
R. Craik, a
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
. There was a second Conservative candidate in the race, and some suspect that Cornish deliberately split the Conservative vote to permit a Liberal victory.
Cornish was elected Mayor of London in 1861, and held the position for the next four years. He was responsible for resolving a scandal at the city's hospital, and oversaw the city's first serious efforts to reduce fire hazards in its central region. The most notorious incident of his tenure as mayor occurred in 1863, when he physically attacked a British commander who boasted of an affair with Cornish's wife. He was convicted of assault, and fined eight dollars.
Cornish often resorted to dubious means to win elections, and received assistance from members of the local Orange Order. He was defeated for the mayoralty in 1865, when his opponent
David Glass David Glass may refer to:
*David Glass (businessman) (1935–2020), American executive
*David Glass (Canadian politician) (1829–1906), Canadian lawyer and political figure
* David Glass (Israeli politician) (1936–2014), Israeli politician
*Davi ...
successfully petitioned for the local militia to oversee the civic proceedings.
Cornish ran for the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the
1871 provincial election, but was defeated by
John Carling
Sir John Carling, (January 23, 1828 – November 6, 1911) was a Canadian politician and prominent businessman who was associated with the Carling Brewery in London, Ontario. The Carling family and its descendants later resided in Ottawa, Mo ...
, a local brewer and fellow
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
. Cornish's loyalty to the Conservative Party was ambiguous in this period, and some sources believe he favoured the Liberals.
Although he was re-elected to
London's municipal council in 1871, Cornish had little interest in the city. He moved to
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...
in 1872, and assisted in developing of the new province's legal system. He became a spokesman for recent Ontario immigrants, and forged a political alliance with
John Christian Schultz
Sir John Christian Schultz (January 1, 1840 – April 13, 1896) was a Manitoba politician and businessman.Richard Gwyn, Nation Maker, Vol. II: pg. 100. Vintage Canada, 2012. Print. He was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1871 t ...
's
Canadian Party
The Canadian Party was a group founded by John Christian Schultz in 1869, in the Red River Colony (which later became the Canadian province of Manitoba). It was not a political party in the modern sense but was rather a forum for local ultra-Prot ...
. Schultz's followers opposed the province's "consensus government" and were often involved in violent activities against the local
Métis population.
Against the wishes of
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
John A. Macdonald
Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...
, Cornish coordinated the arrest of
Ambroise-Dydime Lepine in 1873. Lepine had been the adjutant-general in
Louis Riel
Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of Canada and its first ...
's provisional government, and his arrest sparked bitter divisions among the province's English-speaking and French-speaking communities. Cornish served as leader for the prosecution in Lepine's trial, which resulted in a conviction and a death sentence (later commuted to a minor jail sentence).
Winnipeg was formally incorporated as a city in 1873, and Cornish declared himself a candidate for the city's mayoralty. On January 5, 1874, he defeated
William F. Luxton by a margin of 383 votes to 179. It may be noted that there were only 382 eligible voters in the city at the time, but that property owners were allowed to vote in every civic poll in which they owned property. Cornish's followers exploited this rule to their benefit.
In the
1874 provincial election, Cornish declared himself a candidate for the Manitoba legislature in the constituency of
Poplar Point
The Anacostia Waterfront Corporation (AWC) was a government-owned corporation established in 2004 by the government of District of Columbia, in the United States, to revitalize neighborhoods next to the Anacostia River and to coordinate the envir ...
. He ran as an opponent of
premier Robert A. Davis
Robert Atkinson Davis (March 9, 1841 – January 7, 1903) was a businessman and Manitoba politician who served as the fourth premier of Manitoba.
Davis was born in Dudswell, Quebec, Dudswell, in the eastern townships of Lower Canada (now Quebec ...
's ministry (which was primarily supported by francophones), and defeated his sole opponent,
Robert Hastie
Robert "Bob" Hastie (27 July 1861 – 9 April 1914) was an Australian politician who was the first parliamentary leader of the Labour Party in Western Australia. He was a member of the state's Legislative Assembly from 1901 to 1905.
Hastie wa ...
, by a margin of 92 votes to 65. Cornish subsequently allowed his name to stand for re-election as mayor of Winnipeg, but paid little attention to the campaign. He was defeated by
William Kennedy, 218 votes to 164.
Early in 1875, opposition leader
John Norquay
John Norquay (May 8, 1841 – July 5, 1889) was the fifth premier of Manitoba from 1878 to 1887. He was born near St. Andrews in what was then the Red River Colony, making him the first Premier of Manitoba to have been born in the region.
...
entered the cabinet of Premier Davis and brought several of his Anglophone followers to the government side. Cornish did not join Norquay, and emerged as the leader of the parliamentary opposition. He was again accused of fomenting violence in an 1876 municipal election, and was fined twenty dollars for his role in an altercation.
Cornish was asked to run as a
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
candidate in the
1878 federal election of 1878, but declined. His party affiliation was still ambiguous in this period. He declared himself a "National" in federal politics, and is generally considered to have been a
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
, albeit of an independent stripe, during his time in the Manitoba legislature. Like John Christian Schultz, he gradually left his Ontario Conservative background, and sometimes aligned himself with a "Liberal" position when opposing the provincial government.
Cornish was elected as an alderman to the municipal council of Winnipeg in 1878. He was also planning to run for re-election to the provincial legislature, but died from cancer of the stomach in November.
In his history of Manitoba's legal system, Bruce MacFarlane describes Cornish as "by most accounts a brash and rude man, but extremely intelligent. Best known as the first mayor of Winnipeg, he was also decidedly anti-Catholic, anti-Métis and especially anti-Riel".
A century of intergrity
, p. 11. Government of Manitoba.
References
*
External links
*
Manitoba History - Francis Evans Cornish
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornish, Francis
1831 births
1878 deaths
Mayors of London, Ontario
Mayors of Winnipeg
Pre-Confederation Ontario people
Deaths from stomach cancer
Deaths from cancer in Manitoba
Canadian people convicted of assault