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Boswell, George Morss Jukes

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Boswell, George Morss Jukes, Q.C., Judge of the County Court of the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham, Cobourg, Ontario, was born at Gosport, England, in June, 1804. His father, John Boswell, of London, England, solicitor, was the youngest son of James Boswell, an officer in the Royal Navy, whose four elder brothers were also officers in the same service, and a descendant of the Boswells of Balmuto, Scotland, the elder branch of the family of the celebrated biographer. Judge Boswell, the subject of our sketch, was educated at the Grammar School, Buntingford, Herts, England, came to Canada in 1822, and was one of the earliest settlers in Cobourg. He was called to the bar in Michaelmas term, 1827, and is the premier Queen’s counsel in Canada, being the first created by commission in August, 1841. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Upper Canada Assembly in 1836, but was returned at the first election after the union of Upper and Lower Canada, and sat from 1841 to 1844, in the then Parliament of Canada. While in parliament he took a prominent part in constitutional debate, was a staunch advocate of responsible government, and although a Conservative in principle, worked with the Reform party until constitutional government was conceded. During the discussion on this question, he forced Mr. Draper, then attorney-general, to admit the principle, “That if the government cannot command the majority of the house, so that its measures may be carried on harmoniously, if they do not find by the whole proceedings of the house that they have the confidence of a majority of its members, then that a dissolution of the house shall follow, or that the government resign.” This then settled this important question of responsible government, though dragged out of Attorney-General Draper against his will (see Cobourg Star, June 11th, 1841). Before accepting a judgeship, Mr. Boswell was one of the leading lawyers in Canada, and as such was specially retained to defend Hunter, Morrison, Montgomery, and others, who were tried for high treason in connection with the rebellion in 1837. The two former were acquitted. In 1845, he was appointed Judge of the County Court of the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham, and accepted superannuation in 1882. In 1837, he served under Colonel Ham as brigade major with the volunteers in suppressing the rebellion, and was on the frontier at Chippawa, at the time the rebels under McKenzie took possession of Navy Island. Judge Boswell was married first in 1829, to Susannah, daughter of James Radcliffe, by whom he had a numerous family; and last to Mary, daughter of the late Rev. Thomas Wrench, rector of St. Michael’s Church, Cornhill, London.

A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography

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