Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Blake, Edward
BLAKE, The Hon. Edward, M.A., Q.C., M.P., is the eldest son of the late Hon. Wm. Hume Blake, a distinguished jurist of Upper Canada, and at one time Chancellor of that Province. He was born in the township of Adelaide, co. Middlesex, Ontario, Oct. 13, 1833, and received his education at Upper Canada College, and Toronto University, where he graduated with honours in 1857. Afterwards he studied law, was called to the bar of Upper Canada in 1856, and made a Queen's Counsel in 1864. He is a Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada, and Chancellor of the University of Toronto. He entered the political arena in 1867, being returned for South Bruce in the Ontario Assembly, and for three years was leader of the Opposition in that body. In 1871 he succeeded the Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald in the Premiership of the Ontario Legislature, and held the office of President of the Executive Council until 1874. For a number of years he also represented South Bruce in the Dominion Parliament, and at one time sat for West Durham. In Nov., 1873, he was made a member of the Canadian Privy Council, and joined the Mackenzie Administration, in which, for various periods, he held the Ministership of Justice and the portfolio of President of Council. For a time ill-health withdrew him from public life, and the same cause obliged him to refuse the Chancellorship of Ontario and the Chief Justiceship of the Supreme Court of the Dominion, which were successively offered to him. In 1876 he visited England on public business, and three years later re-entered the Dominion Parliament as member for West Durham, which he continues to represent. Mr. Blake is an Independent-Liberal in politics, and at the present time is leader of the Opposition in the Ottawa Parliament. Among the public men of the Dominion he holds the foremost place, being alike distinguished for his ability and his high character. Mr. Blake in 1862 married Margaret, daughter of the late Right Rev. Dr. Cronyn Bishop of Huron.