James Innes was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

-born journalist, businessman and political figure in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada. He represented Wellington South

Wellington South

Wellington South was a Canadian federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867 as the "South Riding of the county of Wellington"...

 in the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 from 1882 to 1896 as a Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 member.

He was born in Huntly, Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...

, the son of Alexander Innes and Elsbeth Fordyce, taught school in Scotland for five years and arrived in Canada West in 1853. He was a reporter for the Globe

The Globe (Toronto newspaper)

The Globe was a newspaper in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, founded in 1844 by George Brown as a Reform voice. It merged with The Mail and Empire in 1936 to form The Globe and Mail.-History:...

and British Colonist in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 and the Morning Banner in Hamilton

Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...

. In 1861, he became the editor for the Guelph Advertiser. He became co-owner of the Guelph Weekly Mercury

Guelph Mercury

The Guelph Mercury is an English language newspaper published in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It publishes a mix of community, national and international news and is owned by the Torstar Corporation. The newspaper, in many incarnations, has been a part of the community since 1854...

in 1862. In 1873, he merged that paper with the Advertiser to form the Guelph Mercury and Advertiser. Innes married Helen Gerrard in 1873. He served on the local board of education and became chairman in 1882. Innes was also president of the Dominion Life Assurance Company and helped form the Guelph Junction Railway. He died of pneumonia

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

 in Sydney, Nova Scotia

Sydney, Nova Scotia

Sydney is a Canadian urban community in the province of Nova Scotia. It is situated on the east coast of Cape Breton Island and is administratively part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality....

 at the age of 70 while travelling in eastern Canada.

Electoral record