Charles Richard Ogden
Encyclopedia
Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada
Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada were the leaders of the Province of Canada, from the 1841 unification of Upper Canada and Lower Canada until Confederation in 1867....
for Canada East
Canada East
Canada East was the eastern portion of the United Province of Canada. It consisted of the southern portion of the modern-day Canadian Province of Quebec, and was primarily a French-speaking region....
from 1842 with William Henry Draper
William Henry Draper
William Henry Draper was a lawyer, judge, and politician in Upper Canada later Canada West.-Personal life:...
PM for Canada West. Odgen was a member of the Château Clique
Château Clique
The Clique du Château or Château Clique was a group of wealthy families in Lower Canada in the early 19th century. They were the Lower Canadian equivalent of the Family Compact in Upper Canada...
.
Ogden was a lawyer, politician, and public servant from Canada East
Canada East
Canada East was the eastern portion of the United Province of Canada. It consisted of the southern portion of the modern-day Canadian Province of Quebec, and was primarily a French-speaking region....
. Born in Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
, he was one of eleven sons of Isaac Ogden, a loyalist and puisne judge of the Court of King’s Bench at Montreal, and Sarah Hanson. He was called to the Bar of Lower Canada in 1812 and set up practice at Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières, Quebec
Trois-Rivières is a city in the Mauricie region of Quebec, Canada, located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence Rivers. It is situated in the Mauricie administrative region, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from the city of Bécancour...
. One of Ogden's brothers, Peter Skene Ogden, was a noted explorer and fur trader who worked for the North West Company
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...
and the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
.
Charles Richard Ogden was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada
Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada
The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791...
for Trois-Rivières in 1814 and was its representative until he was defeated in the general election of 1824, while he was in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He was reelected in 1826 and served until 1833 when he was named attorney general for Lower Canada; he continued in that post until 1842. As Attorney-Gneral, Ogden prosecuted the "Patriotes" who had been involved in the 1837 rebellion, 12 of whom were hanged.
He also served as a member of the Special Council of Lower Canada
Special Council of Lower Canada
The Special Council of Lower Canada was an appointed body which administered Lower Canada until the Union Act of 1840 created the Province of Canada. Following the Lower Canada Rebellion, on March 27, 1838, the Constitutional Act of 1791 was suspended and both the Legislative Assembly and...
from 1840 until the Act of Union. He was elected again for Trois-Rivières in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada
Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada
The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the legislature for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known as Canada West and later the...
in 1841.
Ogden's leadership as Premier in signing the Act of Union, and the rise of the reformers under Baldwin and Lafontaine reduced his political popularity. This, combined with his involvement in prosecuting the Patriotes left his reputation and standing among the French-Canadian population diminished.
A complicated man, Ogden was known to be very popular among his constituents for his fluent French, his oratory and his sense of humour. He was notorious for his practical jokes, one of which was to paint moustaches on the sleeping passengers of a ship travelling from Montreal to Quebec City.
Ogden left for England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
near the end of 1841 and returned to Canada for a while in 1842 before going back to England again, living in a kind of exile. He became a member of the English bar at Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
in 1844 and was named attorney general for the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
. He died near Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
in 1866.