Henry Grattan Nolan, (May 5, 1893 – July 8, 1957) 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 ...

lawyer and jurist. He was the first

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 ...

n appointed to the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to ...

Biography

Nolan was born in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

(now in

), the son of Patrick James "Paddy" Nolan, a criminal defence lawyer, and Mary Elizabeth Lee. According to his friend, Ronald Martland, who succeeded him on the Supreme Court, Nolan did not have a good relationship with his father, possibly because of his father's struggles with alcohol. Martland said that Nolan "very seldom ever spoke of his father", who had not treated Nolan's mother well. Nolan was determined not to follow the path set by his father. Nolan's wife stated that Nolan's father had not had any sort of relationship with Nolan, and had not even answered Nolan's schoolboy letters.''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'': Nolan, Patrick James
Nolan received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Ruth ...

in 1914 and was awarded a

Rhodes scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world ...

for Alberta in 1915. However, he enlisted in the army during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and received a

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

in 1918 for his service. He was wounded at

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; pcd, Kimbré; nl, Kamerijk), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Esca ...

, in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. After the war, he received a second

in 1921 from

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...

. He was called to the English and Alberta bars. He returned to Calgary to practice law, as an associate with the firm of Bennett, Hannah & Sanford, founded by

Richard Bedford Bennett Richard Bedford Bennett, 1st Viscount Bennett, (July 3, 1870 – June 26, 1947), was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, philanthropist, and politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Canada from 1930 to 1935. Bennett was born in ...

. In 1928, he married Doris Margery McCarter. They had two daughters, Moira and Shelagh. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he served with the Canadian Army, becoming a Vice-Judge Advocate General with the rank of brigadier. From 1945 to 1948, he was a prosecutor before the

International Military Tribunal for the Far East The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trial or the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, was a military trial convened on April 29, 1946 to try leaders of the Empire of Japan for crimes against peace, conve ...

at Tokyo. He was made a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1946. On March 1, 1956, he was appointed to the

and served barely a year until his death in 1957 at the age of 64.

References

External links

Supreme Court of Canada biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nolan, Henry 1893 births 1957 deaths Alumni of University College, Oxford Canadian Militia officers Canadian Army officers Canadian Expeditionary Force officers Canadian Army personnel of World War II Canadian military personnel of World War I Canadian Rhodes Scholars Canadian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada Lawyers in Alberta People from Calgary Prosecutors of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East Canadian recipients of the Military Cross University of Alberta alumni Canadian military personnel from Alberta

Biography

See also

References

External links