Flynn, Edmund James, Judge of the Superior Court (Quebec City, Que.), is the son of the late James Flynn and Elizabeth Tostivin, and was born in Percé, Shiretown of Gaspé County, November 16, 1847. After a distinguished career at Quebec Seminary and Laval University, he graduated from the latter institution of learning in 1873 with the degree of LL.L., receiving the higher honor of LL.D. in 1878. Mr. Justice Flynn has been prominent in Provincial politics during a public life of some thirty years, during which time he was M.L.A. for the constituencies of Gaspé and Nicolet respectively, and held office successively as Commissioner of Crown Lands, Minister of Railways, Solicitor-General and Commissioner of Public Works in various Liberal-Conservative Administrations; from May, 1896, to May, 1897, he was Prime Minister of Quebec. From 1897 to 1904, he was leader of the Opposition. In 1908, he was candidate for House of Commons in Dorchester Co., but was defeated by a comparatively small majority. Between the years 1874 and 1914 when he received his appointment as Judge, Mr. Flynn was a practising lawyer at the Quebec Bar and Professor of Roman Law in Laval, of which University he is to-day Dean in the Faculty of Law; having also been Batonnier of the Quebec Bar. A Roman Catholic in religion, Judge Flynn married Augustine, daughter of the late Augustin Cote, Editor of the “Journal de Quebec,” in 1875, by whom he has had eleven children; those surviving are Amelia, wife of Lt.-Col. Chauveau, K.C., Edmund, C.P.R. Ticket Agent; Percy, Capt. Adjt., 10th Reserve Batt., C.E.F.; and Beatrice. After the decease of his first wife he married Cecile Pouliot, widow of Eugene Globensky, of Montreal, in 1912.
Willis, James E. (Whitby, Ont.), is one of the best known and progressive citizens of that town. At present he holds the position of police magistrate for the town, but has been identified with public affairs in various capacities for some years past. While still comparatively young in years, he built up a successful position in the business world, and at the time of his appointment to his legal office in 1918, filled the office of President of the Whitby Board of Trade. He has also taken an active part in municipal affairs, and held the office of Mayor of the town for two terms. Another office which he has filled with success is that of Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of the town. It was while Mayor of Whitby that he became identified with the movement to extend the scope and usefulness of the hydro-electric system of Ontario. It was the desire of Sir Adam Beck and his chief lieutenants that the system already so widely used for manufacturing, municipal and domestic purposes should be augmented by a great network of radial railways. Under Mayor Willis’s advice, the town of Whitby was the first municipality in Ontario to avail itself of these proposals by extending municipal support to a hydro-electric radial railway linking up Toronto with the towns of Whitby, Markham and Port Perry; and it is expected that the road when constructed and put in operation will do much for the entire section immediately east of Toronto. Another local enterprise which was in the main due to Mr. Willis’s progressive spirit was the installing of a sewerage system, which was essential to the establishment near the town of Whitby of a great provincial hospital for the insane, which, during the war was turned over to the military authorities, and was the largest soldiers’ hospital in the Dominion of Canada. When the plans which Mr. Willis has done so much to promote are carried out, Whitby will have a close suburban connection by electric railway with Toronto, and it is expected will become an important residential centre for the wealthier families of that city. When the late Major Harper, who had formerly served as police magistrate, passed away in 1918, the Attorney-General of Ontario appointed Mr. Willis his successor; and the choice was applauded not merely locally, but in wider circles where the activities of Mr. Willis for the development of Whitby had rendered his name familiar. He is recognized as one of the most forceful and progressive municipal authorities in Canada. In his younger days he took an active interest in outdoor sports, such as foot racing, cricket, baseball, and was secretary of the Whitby Curling Club for many years, and took part as skip in many Tankard and friendly matches. He has been from his youth a reader, and is one of the best posted men on general and scientific subjects in his native town. It has been his policy to strongly advocate any movement that would be for the good and uplifting of the people as a whole; and he has often been heard to say: “I wish I could do some lasting good for my fellow man, and leave the world a little better than I found it. If I can do no permanent and lasting good, I feel that I have lived in vain.”
Orville B. Shortly, TORONTO
William McInenly, OTTAWA
Nicholls, Lieut.-Colonel The Hon. Frederic (Toronto, Ont.), Dominion Senator; born in England, November 23, 1856. He received his education at Stuttgart, Wurtemburg, Germany, and came to Canada in 1874, where he organized the first electric company—The Toronto Incandescent Electric Light Company—which adopted the first underground system of electric distribution in Canada. Senator Nicholls was elected President of the National Electric Light Association of America in 1896, being the only Canadian to hold that honor, and has since been elected an honorary member. He was for seven years Secretary of the Canadian Manufacturers Association, and founded the “Canadian Manufacturer,” of which he was editor and proprietor until 1893. Senator Nicholls is President and General Manager of the Canadian General Electric Company, Toronto; President and General Manager of the Canadian Allis-Chalmers, Limited; President of the Canadian Sunbeam Lamp Co.; President of the Toronto & Hamilton Railway Company; Vice-President of the Dominion Coal Company; Vice-President of the Dominion Iron & Steel Co.; Vice-President of the Dominion Steel Corporation; Vice-President of the Electrical Development Co. of Ontario; Vice-President of the Sao Paulo Tramway, Light & Power Company; Vice-President of the Toronto & Niagara Power Company; Vice-President of the Toronto Power Company; Vice-President of the Toronto Railway Company; Vice-President of the Toronto & York Radial Railway Company; Director of the British American Assurance Company; of the Canadian Lake & Ocean Navigation Company; of the Confederation Life Association; of the Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway Company; of the Toronto Electric Light Co.; of the Toronto Hunt, Limited, of the Western Assurance Company, and of The United States Fidelity and Casualty Company. In 1890 Senator Nicholls was President of the Toronto Press Club; in 1893 President of the Athenæum Club; in 1911 F.R.C.L., and in 1914 gazetted Honorary Lieut.-Colonel. He is Consul for Portugal; life member of the Toronto Board of Trade; Honorary Member of the Canadian Press Association; Member of the Executive Committee Canadian Manufacturers Association; and a Justice of the Peace. Appointed to the Senate January 20, 1917, and is Chairman of the Standing Committee on Finance of the Senate. In 1875 he married Florence, daughter of Commander Graburn, who died in 1909. He had two sons on active service: Captain Walter Nicholls, who went overseas with the first contingent, served in France, and after being invalided home was Senior Supply Officer at Shorncliffe, and Lieut. Fred Nicholls, attached to the Horse Transport. Two sons-in-law, Capt. J. E. Proctor and Capt. J. B. Allen, and five nephews also served in the overseas forces. Senator Nicholls’ recreations are hunting, fishing, motoring, yachting and golf. Among his clubs are the Bankers’ Club of America, New York; the York Club, the Toronto Club, Toronto Hunt Club, Albany Club, Engineers Club, Ontario Jockey Club, Rosedale Golf Club, Toronto Golf Club, Scarborough Golf and Country Club, and the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, Toronto, Ont.; the Hamilton Golf and Country Club; Caledon Mountain Trout Club; the Mount Royal Club, Montreal; the Rideau Club, the Country Club, Ottawa; the Manitoba Club, Winnipeg. Since the outbreak of the war he has devoted himself to patriotic work, and is a member of the Executive Committee of the General Council of the Canadian Patriotic Fund; Vice-President and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Toronto Branch of the Canadian Red Cross Society; and President of the Toronto Municipal Loan Association, a society formed to relieve distress.