Date Published:
January 2005

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

Sir Frederick William Borden

Borden, Sir Frederick William (1847-1917), Canadian minister of militia and defence (1896-1911), was born at Cornwallis , Nova Scotia, on May 14, 1847, the son of Dr. Jonathan Borden and Maria Frances Brown. He was educated at King's College University, Windsor, Nova Scotia (B.A., 1866), and at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts (M.A., 1868), and he practised medicine for many years at Canning, Nova Scotia. In 1874 he was elected as a Liberal to the Canadian House of Commons for King's county, Nova Scotia ; and, except for the years 1882-7, when he was out of parliament, he continued to represent this constituency until his defeat in the general elections of 1911. From 1896 to 1911 he was minister of militia and defence in the Laurier administration; and his period of office was marked by striking changes. It was under his régime that the last British troops were withdrawn from Canada in 1901, and that the practice ceased of appointing a British general officer to command the Canadian militia. Though not open to the suggestions of military experts for the improvement of the Canadian militia, he raised on the whole the standard of the militia during his time. He died at Canning, Nova Scotia, on January 6, 1917 . He was twice married, (1) to Julia Maud (d. 1880), daughter of John H. Clark, Canning, Nova Scotia ; and (2) to Bessie Blanche, another daughter of John H. Clark; and he had two daughters and one son. In 1911 he was made LL.D. of the University of New Brunswick ; and in 1902 he was created a K.C.M.G.

Source : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopaedia of Canada, Vol. IV, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 400p., p. 257.