SIR

See also:

• JOHN
• JOHN (1167–1216)
• JOHN (1290-c. 1320)
• JOHN (1296-1346)
• JOHN (1371–1419)
• JOHN (1468-1532)
• JOHN (1801-1873)
• JOHN (Heb. llni')
• JOHN (ZAPOLYA) (1487-1540)
• JOHN, 4TH MARQUESS OF TWEEDDALE (c. 1695-1762)
• JOHN, DON (1545-1578)
• JOHN, DON (1629–1679)
• JOHN, GOSPEL OF ST
• JOHN, THE APOSTLE
• JOHN, THE EPISTLES OF
• JOHN, or HAYS (1513–1571)

JOHN

See also:

• SPARROW (0. Eng. spearwa; Icel. sporr; O.H.G. Sparo)

SPARROW

See also:

• THOMPSON
• THOMPSON, FRANCIS (1860-1907)
• THOMPSON, LAUNT (1833-1894)
• THOMPSON, SIR HENRY, BART
• SIR JOHN SPARROW THOMPSON (1844-1894)
• THOMPSON, THOMAS PERONNET (1783-1869)
• THOMPSON, WILLIAM HEPWORTH (18ro–1886)

THOMPSON (1844-1894)  , Canadian jurist and statesman, was born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the loth of November 1844, of Irish descent . At fifteen he entered a lawyer's office, and in 1865 was called to the provincial bar: In 1871 he incurred much odium by leaving the Methodist Church, in which he had been prominent, and becoming a Roman Catholic, a change dictated solely by religious motives . In 1877 he was elected to the local legislature for Antigonish as a Conservative, and in 1878 became attorney-general . In May 1882 he became premier, but in June was defeated at the general election, though retaining his own seat, and in July was made a judge of the provincial Supreme Court . In September 1885, he was appointed minister of justice in the Federal cabinet, and soon after was elected member for Antigonish . In 1886 he successfully defended in the Federal parliament the hanging of Louis Riel (q.v.), which had greatly angered the French Roman Catholics; in 1887-'888, together with Mr Joseph Chamberlain and Sir Charles Tupper, he arranged a Fisheries Treaty with the American commissioners, which was afterwards thrown out by the United States Senate . During the following years he defended the government with great skill in various politico-religious disputes, and in November 1892 succeeded Sir John Abbott as premier of Canada . The length of time during which the Conservatives had held office had gathered around many parasites, and Thompson was compelled to face charges, some of them true, against prominent Conservatives . He promptly announced his intention to lop the mouldering branches away," and would probably have reorganized his party, but on the lath of December 1894 he dropped dead at Windsor Castle, a few minutes after having been sworn in by Queen Victoria as a member of the privy council . Though a quiet man who did not advertise, few Canadian statesmen have done so much honest and solid work . In 1892 he finished the codification of the Canadian criminal code; in 1893 his firmness and knowledge as British arbitrator at Paris on the Bering Sea dispute between Great Britain and the United States were of great service . His Life has been written by J .

C .

Hopkins (Toronto, 1895) .