John Langton (April 7, 1808 – March 19, 1894) was Canada's first Auditor General. He was born in

Ormskirk Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England, north of Liverpool, northwest of St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston. Ormskirk is known for its gingerbread. Geography and administ ...

, Lancashire, England in 1808 and studied at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

. He emigrated to

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North Americ ...

in 1833 and settled near

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire unti ...

. He worked for a time in the timber trade. In 1841, he was elected to the council for the Colborne District, becoming warden in 1848. In 1851, Langton was elected to the Legislative Council for

; he was reelected in 1854. In 1855, he was appointed the Auditor of the Province of Canada and was also appointed as a member of the newly formed Board of Audit; he resigned his seat in the assembly the following year. He served as Auditor for the remaining tenure of the Province of Canada and the first decade of the Dominion of Canada; it was Langton who led in the production of the first financial statements of the Dominion of Canada in spite of many challenges. He also served on the senate for the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

Langton moved with the government to

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 ...

in 1859 and was president of the

Literary and Historical Society of Quebec The Literary and Historical Society of Quebec (LHSQ) was the first historical society, and one of the first learned societies, in Canada. It was founded in 1824 by George Ramsay, Earl of Dalhousie, governor of British North America. Its headquar ...

. After

Canadian Confederation Canadian Confederation (french: Confédération canadienne, link=no) was the process by which three British North American provinces, the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, were united into one federation called the Canada, Dom ...

in 1867, Langton was appointed the head of the federal Board of Audit. In 1870, he was named Deputy Minister of Finance and Secretary to the Treasury Board, while maintaining his role as Auditor General. The

Auditor General An auditor general, also known in some countries as a comptroller general or comptroller and auditor general, is a senior civil servant charged with improving government accountability by auditing and reporting on the government's operations. Freq ...

's function was later to be separated from the finance department. He retired in 1878. From 1880 to 1882, he served as president of the

Canadian Institute The Royal Canadian Institute for Science (RCIScience), known also as the Royal Canadian Institute, is a Canadian nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting the public with Canadian science. History The organization was formed in Toronto as t ...

. He died in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in 1894.

References

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External links

Langton (John) Family archival papers
held at th
University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services

{{DEFAULTSORT:Langton, John 1808 births 1894 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada West 19th-century Canadian civil servants People from Ormskirk English emigrants to Canada Canadian auditors