Charles Gerald O'Connor (December 3, 1890 – November 16, 1949) was a provincial politician and judge from

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada. He served as a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from singl ...

from 1935 to 1940, sitting with the Liberal caucus in government. He also served on the

Edmonton City Council The Edmonton City Council is the governing body of the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Edmonton currently has one mayor and twelve city councillors. Elections are held every four years. The most recent was held in 2021, and the next is in 20 ...

in 1931 and 1932 and a federal court judge.

Early life

Charles Gerald O'Connor was born December 3, 1890 at

Walkerton, Ontario Walkerton is a Town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located within and governed by the municipality of Brockton, Ontario, Brockton. It is the site of Brockton's municipal offices and the county seat of Bruce County, Ontario, Bruce County. I ...

to Frederick Shepherd O'Connor, a lawyer in Walkerton and later Sheriff of

Bruce County Bruce County is a county in Southwestern Ontario, Canada comprising eight lower-tier municipalities and with a 2016 population of 66,491. It is named for James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine, sixth Governor General of the P ...

, and Maria Isabella O'Connor (''née'' Hamilton), the granddaughter of George Hamilton, the founder of

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

. He was educated in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

and attended

Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The law school is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the Journal of Law and Social Policy, and the ''Osgoode Hall La ...

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

. He joined his older brother George Bligh O'Connor and his partner

William Antrobus Griesbach Major General William Antrobus Griesbach, (January 3, 1878 – January 21, 1945) was a Canadian politician, decorated soldier, mayor of Edmonton, and member of the House of Commons and of the Senate. Early life Griesbach was born in Fort Qu'A ...

to form the legal firm Griesback, O'Connor & O'Connor. O'Connor enlisted in the 138th Battalion of the

Canadian Expeditionary Force The Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) was the expeditionary field force of Canada during the First World War. It was formed following Britain’s declaration of war on Germany on 15 August 1914, with an initial strength of one infantry division ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, serving as a

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

. He served in France and was wounded at the

Battle of Passchendaele The Third Battle of Ypres (german: link=no, Dritte Flandernschlacht; french: link=no, Troisième Bataille des Flandres; nl, Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by t ...

. O'Connor briefly returned to Edmonton in 1918, then returned to the front as the Aide-de-camp to Major General

Archibald Cameron Macdonell Sir Archibald Cameron Macdonell, (6 October 1864 – 23 December 1941) was a Canadian police officer and soldier. Education He was born in Windsor, Canada West. He was educated at Trinity College School, Port Hope, Ontario, and graduated from ...

, and was amongst the forces which marched into Germany at the end of the war. O'Connor left the war as a

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. He married Victoria Smith on September 5, 1920 and together had two children.

Political life

Edmonton City Council

O'Conner was elected to

for a two-year term in the 1930 Edmonton municipal election as a member of the

Civic Government Association The Civic Government Association was a political party active in Edmonton's municipal politics from after the First World War until the 1960s. The party focused on the economic growth and government efficiency aspects of the Progressive Era ...

Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta

O'Connor was elected to the

8th Alberta Legislature The 8th Alberta Legislative Assembly was in session from February 6, 1936, to February 16, 1940, with the membership of the assembly determined by the results of the 1935 Alberta general election held on August 22, 1935. The Legislature officially ...

in the

1935 Alberta general election The 1935 Alberta general election was held on August 22, 1935, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The newly founded Social Credit Party of Alberta won a sweeping victory, unseating the 14-year government of the United Farmer ...

for the

electoral district. O'Connor was one of six members returned from the district through the

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...

, and although he finished the first round of balloting with 1,116 votes, good enough for 12th of 27 candidates, the subsequent counts through vote transfers saw O'Connor elected. He joined

William R. Howson William Robinson Howson (March 6, 1883 – June 25, 1952) was a politician, judge, debt collector, soldier, banker, and real estate agent from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1930 to 1936 sit ...

and

George Van Allen George Harold Van Allen (June 22, 1890 – June 15, 1937) was a Canadian provincial politician from Alberta. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1935 to his death in 1937, sitting with the Liberal caucus in governmen ...

as the elected

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 ...

members. O'Connor ran for re-election in

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *January ...

as a member of the Independent Movement, a collation of opposition parties against the

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

movement. O'Conner was not reelected, receiving 3,392 votes, while fellow Independent Movement candidates

John Percy Page John Percy Page (May 14, 1887 – March 2, 1973) was a Canadian teacher, basketball coach, provincial politician, and the eighth Lieutenant Governor of Alberta. Early life and education Born in Rochester, New York, the son of Absalom Bell Page ...

Hugh John Macdonald Sir Hugh John Macdonald, (March 13, 1850 – March 29, 1929) was the only surviving son of the first prime minister of Canada, John A. Macdonald. He too was a politician, serving as a member of the House of Commons of Canada and a federal cabine ...

, and

David Milwyn Duggan David Milwyn Duggan (May 5, 1879 – May 4, 1942) was a Welsh-born Canadian politician who was the Mayor of Edmonton from 1920 to 1923, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, and a leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of A ...

were elected. Future Premier

Ernest Manning Ernest Charles Manning, (September 20, 1908 – February 19, 1996), a Canadian politician, was the eighth Premier of Alberta between 1943 and 1968 for the Social Credit Party of Alberta. He served longer than any other premier in Alberta's histor ...

and Socred Norman B. James were also elected in Edmonton.

Judicial career

O'Connor was appointed a Justice of the

Exchequer Court of Canada In the civil service of the United Kingdom, His Majesty’s Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's '' current account'' (i.e., money held from taxation and other government reve ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, appointed

Puisne Judge A puisne judge or puisne justice (; from french: puisné or ; , 'since, later' + , 'born', i.e. 'junior') is a dated term for an ordinary judge or a judge of lesser rank of a particular court. Use The term is used almost exclusively in common law ...

on April 19, 1945, until his death on November 16, 1949.

Family

Gerald's older brother George Bligh O'Connor (1883-1956) was appointed to the

Supreme Court of Alberta The Court of King's Bench of Alberta (abbreviated in citations as ABKB or Alta. K.B.) is the superior court of the Canadian province of Alberta. Until 2022, it was named Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta. The Court of Queen's Bench in Calgary wa ...

, and later served as Chief Justice.

References

External links

*
Charles Gerald O'Connor
– Canadian Great War Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Gerald Alberta Liberal Party MLAs Canadian King's Counsel Osgoode Hall Law School alumni Judges of the Federal Court of Canada 1949 deaths 1890 births Edmonton city councillors Canadian Expeditionary Force officers