Aikins, Lt.-Col. Sir James Albert Manning, Kt., M.A., K.C., Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba, was born in Peel County, Ont., December 10, 1851, the son of Honorable James Cox Aikins, who was appointed a Senator at Confederation, and, on December 9, 1869, Secretary of State and Registrar General in Sir John A. Macdonald’s administration, and afterwards Minister of Inland Revenue, and later in 1882, appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Manitoba, and of the District of Keewatin, and upon the expiration of his term of office, a second time called to the Senate of Canada in 1896, and his wife Mary Elizabeth Somerset. Educated at Brampton High School, Upper Canada College and Toronto University (B.A., 1875, M.A., 1877), M.A. Ad eundem, Manitoba University, studied law in the office of Matthew Crooks Cameron and also Mowat, Maclennan and Downey, admitted to the Bar of Ontario, 1878, and to the Bar of Manitoba, 1879, in which year he went to Winnipeg, where he soon established himself as one of the leaders of the profession in the Province and few members of the Western Bar have held more responsible solicitorships. Sir James was solicitor and counsel for the Canadian Pacific Railway throughout the western division since its organization until he withdrew in 1911, to contest the constituency of Brandon in the House of Commons, for which he was returned by a large majority, retaining the seat until the general elections in 1917, when he was succeeded by Dr. H. P. Whidden (Conservative-Unionist). He was also counsel for the Dominion Express Co., Imperial Bank, Bank of Ottawa, Canadian Fire Insurance Co., Great West Life Assurance Co., Canada Permanent and Western Canada Land Co., Manitoba Northwest Land Co., Scottish American Investment Co. He is a director of the Northern Trusts Co., the Canada Fire Insurance Co., and numerous other financial corporations. From 1879 to 1896 he acted as counsel for the Department of Justice, and, in 1880, he was appointed by the Dominion Government one of the Royal Commissioners to investigate and report on the administration of Justice in the North-West Territories; was chief counsel for the Province of Manitoba during the administration of Hugh John Macdonald, drafting the Manitoba Liquor Bill, which, on appeal was sustained by the Privy Council in England and decided to be constitutional, and has been a model for similar legislation in other Provinces. Appointed K.C. in 1884, and created Knight Bachelor in June, 1914, Sir James Aikins is the senior of the Manitoba Bar and President of the Canadian Bar Association, President of the Conference of Commissioners on Uniformity of Law. Aug., 1916, appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba. Was elected bencher of the Law Society of Manitoba in 1886, and has filled a large number of other prominent positions and offices, i.e., President of Y.M.C.A.; The Canadian Club; Chairman, Wesley College, Manitoba; Honorary Bursar, Manitoba University; President Law Society of Manitoba. In June, 1912, was appointed to represent Canada at the second International Moral Education Congress, held at The Hague from August 22 to 27 of that year. A director of the Manitoba Agricultural College, Sir James takes great interest in all educational matters. Presented silver cup to Manitoba Mounted Rifles for general efficiency 1907; appointed Honorary Lieut.-Colonel 90th Regiment, Winnipeg Rifles December, 1910; is also Col. (Honorary) of the 99th Regiment, Brandon. A Methodist in religion, the subject of this sketch has always displayed much interest in the affairs of his church; was a member of the 20th Century Thanksgiving Fund, and of the Methodist Church Union Committee, and in 1896 carried a resolution in Grace Methodist Church, Winnipeg, heartily favoring organic union of Presbyterian, Congregational, and Methodist Churches of Canada. Sir James has been twice married—(first) to Mary B. McLellan, in 1884, (second) to Mary F. Colby, in 1889, and has three children, Gordon Harold Aikins, Barrister-at-Law, married to Myrtle Clint; Mary Helena Alberta Aikins; Elizabeth Grace Colby Aikins. Sir James has always taken a very prominent part in the affairs of the Dominion and that the success which has come to him early in life has been the reward of merit is generally admitted. He is a strong platform speaker, a brilliant advocate and sound lawyer, and at critical periods in the country’s history has shown much dominant force as a political factor. Sir James is extremely popular with the members of his profession with whom he has a Dominion-wide acquaintance, and has received every honor at the hands of his fellow-practitioners. He is a member of the following clubs: Manitoba, St. Charles Country, Adanac, of Winnipeg, Rideau Club of Ottawa, and Brandon Club, Brandon, Manitoba, and head of the following law firms: Aikins, Loftus, Aikins and Fisher, and Aikins, Loftus, Aikins, Bell and Bridgman, of Winnipeg.
Pope, Major William Walter, is of United Empire Loyalist descent, was born in the County of Compton, in the Province of Quebec, in 1854, and educated there. Entered the service of the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburgh Railway, Boston, Mass., when a young man, and later he went to Belleville, Ontario, where he studied law. Was assistant to the late John Bell, K.C., Solicitor for the Grand Trunk Railway, 1881 to 1904, when he was transferred to Montreal as assistant to W. H. Biggar, K.C.; while at Belleville was alderman for two years, also Major with the 15th Regiment, retiring retaining rank in 1909, holds long service decoration, also medal with one clasp for the Fenian Raid, 1866. Since September, 1909, has been Solicitor and Secretary of the Hydro-Electric Commission of Ontario, and is recognized as a man of great practical ability. His present address is 117 Bedford Road, Toronto. The Hon. John Henry Pope, late Minister of Railways, was an uncle. Mr. Pope married, October 20, 1875, a daughter of Stephen White, Belleville, manufacturer, and has one son, W. W. Macaulay Pope. He is a member of the Victoria, Royal Canadian Yacht Club, Canadian Empire and United Empire Loyalist Clubs, Canadian Military Institute, Albany, and the Masonic Order, also a member of the Anglican Church and a Conservative. His principal recreations are golfing, bowling, and curling.
Pratt, Edward Courtney (Montreal, Que.), General Manager of The Molsons Bank, is the son of George Henry Pratt, of Monteath, Ireland. He was born in Ireland, on October 22, 1864, and educated in Dublin. On October 16, 1889, he married Edith Augusta White, the daughter of Wm. J. White, K.C., of St. Thomas, Ont., and has six children. Is a member of the Mount Royal, Montreal and Beaconsfield Clubs, and a member of the Anglican Church.
Riddell, Hon. William Renwick (Toronto, Ont.), Justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario, descended from the family of “Riddell of that Ilk,” a son of the late Walter and Mary Renwick Riddell; born in Township of Hamilton, County of Northumberland, April 6, 1852. Educated Cobourg Collegiate Institute and Victoria University; B.A. (1874), Prizeman in Chemistry and Mathematics, B.Sc. (1876), LL.B. (1878), L.H.D. (Syracuse University), J.U.D. (Trinity University, Hartford), LL.D. University of Toronto, McMaster, Lafayette, Northwestern, Wesleyan, Rochester and Yale Universities; graduated at Law School, Osgoode Hall. (Gold Medal and first in all examinations); called to the bar 1883, elected Bencher Law Society of Upper Canada 1891, re-elected until 1906, created a King’s Counsel 1904. Successfully practised at Cobourg and Toronto, and on removal to Ontario’s capital, enjoyed large counsel practice, civil and criminal; was retained during Toronto Municipal Investigation in 1904. Before taking up the study of the law was Mathematical Master of the Normal School, Ottawa, and afterwards Chairman of the Cobourg Collegiate Institute; President, Educational Society, Eastern Ont.; Pres., Alumni Association Victoria University, and member of the Board of Regents. Senator of Toronto University; a Governor, Western Hospital, Toronto. In October, 1906, the subject of this sketch was appointed one of the Judges of His Majesty’s Supreme Court for the Province of Ontario, (the last to be appointed to the King’s Bench Division), a position which he has since occupied with great distinction. His judgments are models of beautiful diction, in which the exposition of the law is clear and illuminating, while his grasp of the facts makes for that clarity of deduction which always characterizes his Lordship’s deliverances. Mr. Justice Riddell has been a generous contributor to various American and Canadian magazines and law journals, and the author of “The Canadian and American Constitutions.” As a lecturer he is recognized as possessing high gifts; his ripe erudition and polished style making his addresses of more than passing interest. During the past few years, among the addresses delivered and magazine articles contributed by His Lordship may be mentioned: The Dodge Lectures, Yale University; Robert Fleming Gourlay; La Rochefoucauld’s Travels in Canada, 1795; The First Judge at Detroit and His Court. Since the outbreak of the war Mr. Justice Riddell has taken a deep interest in recruiting and everything tending to forward the cause of the Allies and has given very largely of his time and great ability, presiding at many meetings and speaking at others in the interest of recruiting. A member of the Toronto, York, and Rosedale Golf Clubs. Mr. Justice Riddell finds recreation in the study of Canadian History, upon which he is an authority. He is Honorary Member of the Bar Associations of the States of Georgia, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin and New York, and of the Lawyers’ Clubs of Buffalo and New York; he is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the Royal Historical Society. He is a Freemason, a Presbyterian, and was formerly a Liberal. Married, March 5, 1884, Anna Hester Kirsop Crossen, youngest daughter of the late James Crossen and Margaret Hayden Crossen, of “Cedar Hedge,” Cobourg.
Paisley, Jas. K. (Ottawa). One of the best known and highly respected citizens in the Capital of the Dominion and in many other parts of Canada, both east and west, is the subject of this sketch. Following in his father’s footsteps, who owned and successfully ran a popular hotel in Orangeville, at an early age he became, and for years remained, cashier of the well known hostelry—the Walker House, Toronto. His experiences in that popular public resort and his popularity prompted aspirations and ambitions which caused him to launch out in enterprises of his own, and he soon became proprietor of several of the best hotels in the principal cities and summer resorts in Canada. In 1902 he was one of the owners of the New Royal in Hamilton where business success and increased patronage prompted the owners to remodel it in 1907. He took management of the Penetanguishene Hotel at Penetang and made it one of the attractive features of the place. He reached out and got management of the Sans Souci at Moon River, the Belvidere in Parry Sound, the Iroquois Hotel in Toronto, the Victoria Hotel at Aylmer, Quebec, the Grand Union, Ottawa, and, with the late Daniel O’Connor, built the Temagami Inn at Temagami, Ontario. In each and all these ventures success and popularity followed in his train and created for him unstinted fame as an enterprising, progressive and popular hotel proprietor and manager. And while so actively engaged in the hotel business Mr. Paisley, being an enthusiastic lover of the horse, found time to give to that noble animal the most assiduous care and attention, and much of his time for years was devoted to the purchase, the raising, and the training of some of the finest saddle, harness and trotting steeds to be found in any part of Canada. They established, for their owner, on many a race track and at many a horse show enviable records. His Sealskin Joe was one of those that won distinction on the Winnipeg racecourse many years ago. Later his saddle horse, Jardie, was accorded the admiration of all. Shortly after his arrival in Ottawa, where he first established himself as proprietor of the Grand Union Hotel, he became interested in such affairs—public, charitable, patriotic and social—as had for their goal the prosperity of the city and the happiness and betterment of its people, and his many years activity in these lines are well marked in the memory of thousands. Mr. Paisley, never allowing his enthusiasm for the horse to die, took a keen interest in, and became one of the original members of, the Ottawa Hunt Club; was Treasurer of the Horse Show while it exhibited here; became Chairman of the Construction Committee that built the Connaught Park Jockey Club Track, and is now a director and one of the Management Committee of the Connaught Park Jockey Club. For years Mr. Paisley has been a Director of the Central Canada Exhibition Association, and held the office of Vice-President, and for a considerable time was Chairman of the Special Attraction Committee. In 1915, owing to the resignation of Mr. Edward McMahon, who had held the position of Manager and Secretary of the Central Canada Exhibition Association for over twenty years, and to replace whose efficient management the Association had to select a competent and reliable successor, Mr. James K. Paisley was chosen, with the result that up to date the fair has been an increased success financially and in attendance. In his management of the Exhibition’s affairs he carries with him a geniality and a business acumen that attracts, establishes confidence, and produces good results. When the Great War broke out, Mr. Paisley’s son, familiarly known as “Pep” Paisley, who had graduated from McGill as an architect, enlisted with A. Battery, R.C.H.A., as a gunner and was soon, owing to meritorious conduct at the front, promoted to a Lieutenancy. His valor and good work at the firing line received much praise from his superior officers. Mr. James K. Paisley is the son of John Paisley and Mrs. M. J. Kenniston of Orangeville, Ontario. He was born in 1858 and was educated in Orangeville High School and Rockwood Academy. In 1888 he married Minnie Bairdsall Harris, daughter of the late Isaac Harris. He has one son and two daughters. His recreations are sports of any kind. He is an active member of the Elks, the Knights of Pythias, and the Foresters, and an executive member of the Hotelmen’s Mutual Benefit Association of America and Canada, Ex-President of the Ontario Hotel Keepers’ Association, and Ex-President of the Ottawa Hotelmen’s Association. In religion he is a Protestant, English Church. In politics a Conservative, and his address is Kenniston Apartments, Elgin Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.