Hugh Richardson (21 July 1826 – 15 July 1913) was a stipendiary

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...

for the

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

district of the North-West Territories of Canada. Richardson was the man who, at the conclusion of the 1885

trial of Louis Riel The trial of Louis Riel took place in Regina, Canada in 1885. Louis Riel had been a leader of a resistance movement by the Métis and First Nations people of western Canada against the Government of Canada in what is now the province of Saskatc ...

, sentenced

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, and who at the 1885 trial of Big Bear sentenced Big Bear to three years in prison. Richardson 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 ...

, England in 1826 and came to

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

(later

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) with his family in 1831. He studied at

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 L ...

, was called to the bar in 1847 and set up practice in

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

. He was crown attorney for Oxford County from 1856 to 1862. He helped organize the local militia battalion, later becoming commander, and served at La Prairie, Canada East in 1865 with Colonel Garnet Joseph Wolseley and at

Sarnia Sarnia is a city in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It had a Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population of 72,047, and is the largest city on Lake Huron. Sarnia is located on the eastern bank of the junction between the Upper and Lower Great Lakes w ...

during the Fenian raids. After he was named a stipendiary magistrate in 1876, he moved to

Battleford Battleford ( 2011 population 4,065) is a small town located across the North Saskatchewan River from the City of North Battleford, in Saskatchewan, Canada. Battleford and North Battleford are collectively referred to as "The Battlefords" b ...

, North-West Territories; in 1883, he moved to Regina after the seat of government for the territories was moved there. He was in 1887 appointed senior judge of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories. Richardson served as acting lieutenant governor for the territories in 1897 and in 1898. He retired in 1903 and returned to Ottawa; his daughter Mary, who had married Donald Alexander Macdonald, was living there. He died in Ottawa in 1913 and is interred in the cemetery of the St. Thomas Anglican ("Old English") Church, in St. Thomas, Ontario.

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
1826 births 1913 deaths People of the Fenian raids Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories Lawyers from London Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories People of the North-West Rebellion Pre-Confederation Saskatchewan people Judges in the Northwest Territories 19th-century English lawyers {{Canada-law-bio-stub