November 10, 2012
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Sir John Sparrow David Thompson, KCMG, PC, QC (November 10, 1845 – December 12, 1894) was a Canadian lawyer, judge, politician, and university professor, who served as the fourth Prime Minister of Canada from December 5, 1892 to December 12, 1894, as well as the fifth Premier of Nova Scotia in 1882. He was the first Roman Catholic to hold the office of prime minister.

 Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to John Sparrow Thompson and Charlotte Pottinger, he was of Irish descent. Some sources say he was born on November 10, 1845. Other sources say he was born in 1844. Thompson married Annie Affleck (1842 – 1913) in 1870. Annie Thompson was strong willed and had the same kind of spirit that had driven Agnes Macdonald (another prime minister's wife) to ride the cowcatcher of a CPR train through the British Columbia mountains. During their courtship, Thompson was forced to write love letters in shorthand because of his soon - to - be wife's disapproving parents. Thompson's family life was marred by tragedy. A daughter, Annie, died at age one, while youngest son David lived to be two. Two other children died at birth (the Thompsons had five children survive childhood).

Thompson was called to the Nova Scotia Bar in July 1865, and from 1878 to 1882 served as Attorney General in the provincial government of Simon H. Holmes. He briefly held the office of Nova Scotia premier in 1882, but his government was defeated in that year's election. Thompson was always a reluctant politician.

After his resignation from government, Thompson was immediately appointed to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia by the Prime Minister of Canada, Sir John A. Macdonald. In this role, he was instrumental in founding the Dalhousie Law School in 1883. He taught law courses at Dalhousie in its early years.

After several failed overtures, Macdonald finally recruited Thompson to Ottawa in 1885. Macdonald generally thought highly of Thompson, remarking, "My one great discovery was my discovery of Thompson." Macdonald poked some fun at his recruit as well: "Thompson is a little too fond of satire, and a little too much of a Nova Scotian." However, his rise in government is probably due as much to the influence of Lady Aberdeen, the wife of the Governor General, as to Macdonald's mentoring. She had great admiration for Thompson, and wrote frequently about him in her published "Canadian Journal".

Thompson was sworn in as Minister of Justice in September, 1885 and subsequently won a seat in Parliament representing Antigonish in October. When he returned to Ottawa, the Riel crisis was in full swing on what to do with Louis Riel, who had been sentenced to hang for leading the 1885 North - West Rebellion, which was now the responsibility of Thompson. Although he was ill with kidney stones at the time of Riel's execution, Thompson made his first major speech to Parliament during the subsequent debate, arguing that anyone who encouraged aboriginal Canadians to act against the state could not escape justice. This speech was notable and helped to popularize Thompson, and he quickly rose to become a leading member of the Conservative government.

Thompson's achievements as Minister of Justice included the first Criminal Code of Canada.

When Sir John A. Macdonald fell ill, Thompson was the last minister to see him before the Prime Minister's devastating stroke in May 1891. Following Macdonald’s death a week later, there was a cabinet crisis. Governor General Lord Stanley of Preston finally called on Thompson to form a government but Thompson declined. Religious prejudice against the Roman Catholic Thompson, having converted at his marriage, made this course of action politically untenable, and Thompson recommended John Abbott, who ultimately accepted.

Thompson assumed the office of Prime Minister a year later when Abbott retired in 1892. He came very close to bringing Newfoundland into Confederation, but this would not be achieved until 1949.

His first major speech as Prime Minister was given in Toronto in January 1893, covering the topics of tolerance and Canadian nationalism in conjunction with loyalty to the British crown. At the time, Thompson was concerned about the possibility of the annexation of Canada by the United States, a goal which was being pursued within Canada by the Continental Union Association, a group of Ontario and Quebec Liberals. Despite his concern, Thompson ultimately realized that the conspiracy to make Canada part of the United States was confined to a small and noisy minority within the opposition party.

In March 1893, Thompson travelled to Paris, France as one of the judges on the tribunal to settle the Canada - US dispute over the seal harvest in the Bering Sea. The result was a victory for Thompson as the tribunal ruled there was no justification for the United States' claim that the Bering Sea was closed to all but American seal hunters.

Other matters of concern during Thompson's tenure as Prime Minister included the reduction of trade tariffs and questions over schooling in Manitoba and in the North West Territories, where disputes over the role of Catholics and Protestants in administering the school system existed. Ultimately, the North West school problem was resolved to Thompson’s liking, but the Prime Minister would not live to see a similar resolution to the Manitoba matter.

While in office, Thompson chose the following jurists to sit as justices of the Supreme Court of Canada:

Sir John Thompson had been Prime Minister of Canada for only two years when he died suddenly from a heart attack at the age of 49 on December 12, 1894, while at Windsor Castle where Queen Victoria had just made him a member of her Privy Council. Thompson's physical condition had deteriorated during his time in Ottawa; he was significantly overweight when he died; at 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m), he weighed about 225 pounds (102 kg), and had always pushed himself very hard with work.

Thompson was the second of two Canadian prime ministers to die in office (the first was Sir John A. Macdonald), and the first of three who did not die in Canada (the other two were Sir Charles Tupper and Richard Bedford Bennett).

After an elaborate funeral in England staged by Queen Victoria, his remains were transported back to Canada aboard the armoured cruiser HMS Blenheim, which was painted black for the occasion. He was buried on January 3, 1895 in the Holy Cross Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Despite having held Prime Ministerial office, Thompson had little estate, and Parliament set up a fund to support his widow and children. His only remaining descendant today is the Canadian politician Margaret Mitchell.

Thompson's collected papers were donated in 1949 to the National Archives of Canada by his son, Colonel John Thompson.

Although subjective, a ranking of the Canadian Prime Ministers was published by J.L. Granatstein and Norman Hillmer determined that Thompson was #10, or "The great "might-have-been" of Canadian Prime Ministers...", whose career was cut short by his early death.

The high school in the Canadian sitcom Life with Derek, SJST, is named after Thompson. Sir John Thompson Catholic Junior High School in Edmonton is named for him. Thompson appears as a prominent character in Paul Marlowe's novel Knights of the Sea (set in 1887 when Thompson was Minister of Justice).