Date Published:
March 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

John Mortimer Courtney

Courtney, John Mortimer (1838-1920), civil servant, was born at Penzance, England, on July 22, 1838, the second son of John Sampson Courtney. He was privately educated, and was for some years in the service of the Bank of Agra, India. In 1869 he came to Canada, at the invitation of Sir John Rose, and became chief clerk and assistant secretary of the Treasury Board of Canada. In 1878 he was promoted to the position of deputy minister of finance; and this post he occupied until his retirement in 1906. In 1907 he was the chairman of the commission appointed to investigate the working of the Civil Service Act; and the report which he submitted in 1908 was the basis for legislation establishing the Civil Service Commission, and making competitive examinations obligatory. He died at Ottawa on October 8, 1920. In 1870 he married Mary Elizabeth Sophia, second daughter of John Fennings Taylor; and by her he had one son. In 1897 he was created a C.M.G., and in 1903 a companion of the Imperial Service Order.

Source  : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. II, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 411p., p. 141.