John Mortimer Courtney, (July 22, 1838 – October 8, 1920) 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 ...

civil servant. Born in

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...

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 ...

, the second son of John Sampson Courtney and Sarah Mortimer, Courtney worked at Mount's Bay Bank in Penzance, then to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

with the

Agra Bank The Agra Bank was founded in 1833 in Agra in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with a capital of £1,000,000. It was liquidated in 1900.Stuart Muirhead, Edwin Green. ''Crisis Banking in the East'', Ashgate Publishing, 1996 Agra Bank By 1840 its ...

in Calcutta and in New South Wales,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and finally with Royal Bank of India. In 1869, he joined the

Public Service of Canada The Public Service of Canada (known as the Civil Service of Canada prior to 1967) is the civilian workforce of the Government of Canada's departments, agencies, and other public bodies. While the Government of Canada has employed civil servants ...

working under

John Langton John Langton (died 1337) was a chancellor of England and Bishop of Chichester. Life Langton was a clerk in the royal chancery, serving as the first Master of the Rolls from May 1286, and became chancellor in 1292.Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of B ...

as a chief clerk and assistant secretary to the

Treasury Board The Treasury Board of Canada (french: Conseil du Trésor du Canada) is the Cabinet committee of the Privy Council of Canada which oversees the spending and operation of the Government of Canada and is the principal employer of the core public se ...

. In 1878, he was promoted to deputy minister and ex officio deputy receiver general and secretary to the Treasury Board. He retired in 1906. His brother

Leonard Courtney, 1st Baron Courtney of Penwith Leonard Henry Courtney, 1st Baron Courtney of Penwith (6 July 183211 May 1918) was a radical British politician, and an academic, who became famous after being advocate of proportional representation in Parliament and acting as an opponent of ...

, was a British politician and man of letters. He was appointed Companion of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

in 1898 and Companion of the

Imperial Service Order The Imperial Service Order was established by King Edward VII in August 1902. It was awarded on retirement to the administration and clerical staff of the Civil Service throughout the British Empire for long and meritorious service. Normally a pe ...

in 1903.

References

* 1838 births 1920 deaths 19th-century Canadian civil servants 20th-century Canadian civil servants Canadian Companions of the Imperial Service Order Canadian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Cornish diaspora People from Penzance {{Canada-gov-bio-stub