Date Published:
January 2005

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

Sir Henri Gustave Joly de Lotbinière

Joly de Lotbinière, Sir Henri Gustave (1829-1908), prime minister of Quebec (1878-9), minister of inland revenue for Canada (1897-1900), and lieutenant-governor of British Columbia (1900-6), was born in Epernay, France, on December 5, 1829, the son of Gaspard Pierre Gustave Joly, seignior of Lotbinière, and Julie Christine, daughter of the Hon. M. E. G. A. Chartier de Lotbinière. He was educated in Paris, France ; but returned to Canada with his parents early in life and was called to the bar of Lower Canada in 1855 (Q.C., 1878). In 1861 he was elected to represent Lotbinière in the Legislative Assembly of Canada; and this constituency he represented continuously until 1885, first in the Assembly of United Canada (1861-7), then in both the Canadian House of Commons and the Legislative Assembly of Quebec (186774), and finally, after the abolition of dual representation, in the Quebec Assembly (1874-85). From 1867 to 1878 he was the leader of the Liberal opposition in Quebec ; and, on the dismissal of the Boucherville administration in 1878, he was appointed prime minister of the province. He was defeated and resigned office in 1879, and in 1885 he retired from the legislature, declining to unite with his political associates in the agitation over the execution of Louis Riel. For a time he retired from public life; but in 1896 he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons for Portneuf, and in 1897 he became minister of inland revenue in the Laurier government. In 1900 he retired from parliament to accept appointment as lieutenant-governor of British Columbia. This office he relinquished in 1906, and he died at Quebec on November 15, 1908. In 1856 he married Margaretta Josepha (d. 1904), daughter of Hammond Gowen, Quebec ; and by her he had three sons and three daughters. In 1888 he assumed his mother's surname of Lotbinière with the consent of the Quebec legislature; and in 1895 he was created a K.C.M.G.

Source : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. III, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 396p., pp. 307-308.