Date Published:
January 2005

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

Sir Francis Godschall Johnson

Johnson, Sir Francis Godschall (1819-1894), governor of Assiniboia (1855-8), was born at Oakley House, Bedfordshire, England, on January 1, 1819, the son of Godschall Johnson, of the 10th Royal Hussars, and Lucy Bisshopp. He was educated at St. Omer, France, and at Bruges, Belgium, and came to Canada in 1834. He was called to the bar of Lower Canada (Q.C., 1848). In 1854 he was appointed recorder of Rupert's Land, and in 1855 governor of Assiniboia. In 1858 he returned to practise law in Montreal ; and in 1865 he was appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Montreal. From 1870 to 1872 he assisted in the organization of the government of Manitoba, as a special commissioner. He was appointed chief justice of the Superior Court of the province of Quebec in 1889; and in 1890 he was knighted. He died on May 27, 1894. He was twice married, (1) in 1840 to Mary Gates Jones, of Montreal (d. 1853), and (2) in 1857 to Mary Mills, of Somersetshire, England. By each wife he had three children.

Source : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. III, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 396p., p. 296.