John Abbott

Third Prime Minister of Canada: June 16, 1891 - November 24, 1892

Born March 12, 1821 in St. Andrews, Quebec.

He was the first native-born Prime Minister of Canada.

John Abbot married Mary Bethune (1823-1898) in 1849. The couple had four children.

He received a B.C.L. (Bachelor of Civil Law) from McGill University in 1854 and was a successful lawyer. A pillar of Montréal's English business community, he would become mayor of Montréal.

He was initiated into St. Paul's masonic Lodge #374 in Montreal, in 1847.

After long service in the Canadian House of Commons, he was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 1887 and joined Sir John A. Macdonald's cabinet that year. Valued for his legal and administrative skills, he soon became one of its leading members.

When Prime Minister Macdonald died in office, Senator Abbott reluctantly accepted the plea of the divided Conservative party that he should lead the government. In his eighteen months in office he revitalized the government and the party. His health failed and he retired to private life in 1892 and died less than a year later on October 30, 1893.

Sir John Abbott is buried in the Mount Royal Cemetery, Montreal, Quebec.

John Abbott College in St-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada is named after him.