Sir Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière, (December 5, 1829 – November 16, 1908) lawyer, businessman and politician served as the fourth

premier of Quebec The premier of Quebec ( (masculine) or eminine is the head of government of the Canadian province of Quebec. The current premier of Quebec is François Legault of the Coalition Avenir Québec, sworn in on October 18, 2018, following tha ...

, a federal Cabinet minister, and the seventh Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.

Biography

Early years

Sir Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière, PC was born as Henry-Gustave Joly in

Épernay Épernay () is a Communes of France, commune in the Marne (department), Marne Departments of France, department of northern France, 130 km north-east of Paris on the mainline railway to Strasbourg. The town sits on the left bank of the Marne ...

, France. His father's family was one of the traditional

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

families from Switzerland and his mother's family was

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. Initially a

himself, Henri-Gustave converted to

Anglicanism Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

before he married in 1856. His father, Gaspard-Pierre-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière, was a pioneer of early photography (the first man to photograph the

Acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens ...

, in 1839) who made a series of

daguerreotypes Daguerreotype was the first publicly available photography, photographic process, widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process. Invented by Louis Daguerre and introduced worldwid ...

while on a Grand Tour through Greece,

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

. Henri-Gustave's mother was Julie-Christine, the youngest daughter of

Michel-Eustache-Gaspard-Alain Chartier de Lotbinière Michel-Eustache-Gaspard-Alain Chartier de Lotbinière (; August 31, 1748 – January 1, 1822), 2nd Marquis de Lotbinière, though to keep political favour with the British he never used the title. He was seigneur of Vaudreuil, Lotbinière ...

, who inherited the

seigneury A seigneur () or lord is an originally feudal system, feudal title in Ancien Régime, France before the French Revolution, Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. The seigneur owne ...

of Lotbinière, in 1828. His parents' marriage was not a happy one, which is perhaps not surprising as his father had first proposed to Julie-Christine's eldest sister, Louise-Josephe, the Seigneuresse de Vaudreuil, who instead chose to marry Robert Unwin Harwood. Henri-Gustave Joly studied in Paris from 1836 to 1849, obtaining his ''bachelier ès lettres'' from the Sorbonne. He returned to Canada in 1850 and was called to the bar in 1855. Joly inherited the lands and title of seigneur of Lotbinière in 1860.

Family

Joly married Margaretta-Josepha Gowen (25 July 1837 – 14 August 1904), daughter of Hammond Gowen of Quebec, and was the father of eleven children, of whom seven (four girls and three boys) reached adulthood. Their daughter, Margaretta-Anna, married Brigadier-General Herbert Colborne Nanton (1863–1935), brother of Augustus Meredith Nanton. His son, Edmond-Gustave Joly de Lotbinère inherited the

of Lotbinière in 1908. Sir Henri-Gustave was the grandfather of

Seymour de Lotbiniere Seymour Joly de Lotbiniere (21 October 1905 – 6 November 1984) known as "Lobby" was a Director of the British Broadcasting Corporation and pioneer of outside broadcasts. He is recognised as developing the technique of sports commentary on r ...

, Director of the

British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public broadcasting, public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved in ...

from 1935 to 1940.

Provincial political career

Joly was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the Parliament of the Province of Canada. The Province of Canada consisted of the former province of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East (now Quebec), and Upper Canada ...

for Lotbinière in 1861 as a

Bleu Bleu or BLEU may refer to: * '' Three Colors: Blue'', a 1993 film * BLEU (Bilingual Evaluation Understudy), a machine translation evaluation metric * Belgium–Luxembourg Economic Union * Blue cheese, a type of cheese * Parti bleu, 19th century ...

, a moderate liberal, but was a member of the more radical

Parti rouge The (, "Red Party"; or , "Democratic Party") was a political group that contested elections in the Canada East, Eastern section of the Province of Canada. It was formed around 1847 by radical French-Canadians; the party was inspired by the ideas ...

when re-elected in 1863. Henri-Gustave Joly became Leader of the Quebec Liberals at the time of

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

in 1867, and was the member for the federal riding of Lotbinière. He was re-elected in Lotbinière in the Canadian Election of 1872. In 1878,

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

premier Charles-Eugène Boucher de Boucherville resigned on March 2 since he was about to be deposed by

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

Luc Letellier de Saint-Just Luc Letellier de Saint-Just, (May 12, 1820 – January 28, 1881) was a Canadian politician. He also served as the third Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (1876–1879). A notary by training, Letellier belonged to a prominent family that desc ...

. They had a conflict over railroad legislation which de Saint-Just deemed unconstitutional. As a result, Joly became Premier on March 8, 1878, and the first Liberal to become Premier of Quebec. To this day, he remains the only foreign-born and Protestant to be the Leader of the Province of Quebec. In the May 1, 1878 election, the Liberals won one fewer seat than the Conservatives (there were also two independent Conservatives). However, Joly remained in power in a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...

for about a year and half. His government was brought down by a motion of

censure A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. In parliamentary procedure, it is a debatable main motion that could be adopted by a majority vote. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a sp ...

involving the defection of five Liberals (including future premier

Edmund James Flynn Edmund James Flynn (November 16, 1847 – June 7, 1927) was a Canadian lawyer, politician and the tenth premier of Quebec, from 1896 to 1897. Background Flynn, the son of Jacques Flynn and Elizabeth Tostevin, was born at Percé on Novembe ...

) to the Conservatives. The

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau Sir Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau (; November 9, 1840 – June 13, 1898), born in Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec, was a French-Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 7th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec from 1892 to 1898. Life As a lawyer, he defe ...

was called to form a government on October 31, 1879. Joly remained Liberal Party leader until 1883. In all, he spent about 17 years as Liberal leader, but served only briefly as Premier. In 1883, Joly resigned as Liberal leader to make way for

Honoré Mercier Honoré Mercier (October 15, 1840 – October 30, 1894) was a Canadian lawyer, journalist and politician in Quebec. He was the ninth premier of Quebec from January 27, 1887, to December 21, 1891, as leader of the Parti National or Quebec Libera ...

. He resigned as member of the Legislative Assembly in November 1885. He added ''"de Lotbinière"'' (part of his mother's maiden name) to his name in 1888.

Careers in federal politics and in forestry

Joly de Lotbinière was once again elected to the federal

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in the 1896 federal election, this time as the member from Portneuf. He served as a federal Cabinet minister from 1897 until he retired in 1900. In March 1900 Sir Henri was invited along with J. R. Booth, William Little, Thomas Southworth and Dr. William Saunders by Elihu Stewart, Canada's chief inspector of timber and forestry, to create the

Canadian Forestry Association The Canadian Forestry Association (CFA) is Canada's oldest conservation organization. It was established on March 8, 1900 by a group of influential Canadians from government and industry, at the Canadian parliament buildings in Ottawa ON. The grou ...

. On 8 March 1900, these men met in the Railway Committee Room of the House of Commons in Ottawa, playing host to lumbermen, foresters, civil servants, railroad executives and others, all concerned about the survival and future use of Canada's forests. The CFA was truly a national organization, with representation from every province and the districts of

Assiniboia Assiniboia District refers to two historical districts of Canada's Northwest Territories. The name is taken from the Assiniboine First Nation. Historical usage ''For more information on the history of the provisional districts, see also Distric ...

, Athabaska, Keewatin and

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

. Under the chairmanship of Sir Henri, delegates approved bylaws and a constitution of the Canadian Forestry Association, Canada's oldest conservation organization. These early conservationists recognized that the whole field of renewable resources, the forests, waters, wildlife, soils and recreational values, were closely interrelated. The CFA's mission continues to be to promote the protection and wise use of Canada's forest, water and wildlife resources. His participation as the first president of the Canadian Forestry Association was not altered by his ongoing political activity. He continued to put forward new ideas for forestry. In 1906 the CFA convened Canada's first national forestry convention, chaired by Sir Wilfrid Laurier, honorary CFA President. Sir Henri presented a paper in that called for the forest sector to consider conversion to the metric measurement system, a change that would not come to fruition in Canada until the 1980s.Little, 2013 At the 1905 annual meeting of the Canadian Forestry Association in Quebec City, condolences were expressed to Sir Henri on the passing the previous year of his wife. To quote the proceedings: "Then we must all regret the affliction that has come to our honoured president, Sir Henri Joly de Lotbinière and his family in the death of Lady Joly. We all love Sir Henri, and we believe that his name will be remembered for the good work he has done as long as trees grow in this country. He has our sincere sympathy in the affliction that has befallen him." Prime Minister Laurier appointed him

Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia The lieutenant governor of British Columbia () is the representative of the monarch in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The office of lieutenant governor is an office of the Crown and serves as a representative of the monarchy in the ...

in 1900; he served until 1906. He died in

Quebec City Quebec City 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 Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

in 1908, and was buried in

Mount Hermon Cemetery Mount Hermon Cemetery is a garden (or rural) cemetery and National Historic Site of Canada. It is located in the Sillery district () of the Sainte-Foy–Sillery–Cap-Rouge borough () of Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The cemetery was designated a ...

in Sillery, on 18 November 1908.

Elections as party leader

He won the 1878 election (the Liberals won one fewer seat than the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

but he remained premier with the support of a few Conservatives). He lost the 1881 election.

Electoral record

References

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External links

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His summer estate now a garden-park open to visitors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joly de Lotbiniere, Henri-Gustave Lieutenant governors of British Columbia 1829 births 1908 deaths Canadian Anglicans Franco-Columbian people French emigrants to pre-Confederation Quebec Canadian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Premiers of Quebec Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada East Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Liberal Party of Canada MPs Quebec Liberal Party MNAs Quebec political party leaders People from Épernay Burials at Mount Hermon Cemetery 19th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada 19th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec