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Charles Richard OgdenQC
Joint Premier of the Province of Canada for Canada East
In office 1841–1842
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for Trois-Rivières (six elections; for details, see succession boxes at end of article)
In office 1814–1824; 1826–1833
Attorney General for Lower Canada
In office 1833–1842
Preceded by	James Stuart
Succeeded by	Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine
Special Council of Lower Canada
In office 1840–1841
Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada for Three Rivers
In office 1841–1844
Preceded by	New position
Succeeded by	Edward Greive
Personal details
Born	(1791-02-06)February 6, 1791 Quebec, Old Province of Quebec
Died	February 19, 1866(1866-02-19) (aged 75) Edge Hill, England
Political party	Lower Canada: Parti bureaucrates
Spouses	(1) Mary Aston Coffin (1824; her death) (2) Susan Clarke (1829)
Relations	Peter Skene Ogden
Children	(1) with Mary: 2 children, died young (2) with Susan: 4 sons, 1 daughter
Profession	Lawyer
Military service
Allegiance	Britain
Branch/service	Lower Canada militia
Years of service	1812 to 1814
Rank	Lieutenant
Unit	1st / 8th Battalions, Trois-Rivières Militia
Battles/wars	War of 1812

Charles Richard Ogden, QC (February 6, 1791 – February 19, 1866) was a Joint Premier of the Province of Canada for Canada East from 1842 with William Henry Draper PM for Canada West. Odgen was a member of the Château Clique. Ogden was a lawyer, politician, and public servant from Canada East.

Family and early life

Ogden was born in Quebec City in 1791, in the old Province of Quebec. 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. One of Ogden's brothers, Peter Skene Ogden, became a noted explorer and fur trader who worked for the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company.

Ogden was educated at private schools, first at Trois-Rivières and later at Montreal. He was called to the bar of Lower Canada in 1812 and set up his practice at Trois-Rivières. He eventually relocated to Montreal, where he established a lucrative practice.

During the War of 1812, Ogden served an uneventful period as a lieutenant in the Lower Canada militia at Trois-Rivières.

Ogden was married twice. His first wife was Mary Aston Coffin, daughter of General John Coffin of New Brunswick. The couple married in England in 1824 and had two children, who both died in infancy. After Mary's death, Ogden remarried in 1829, with Susan Clarke of Montreal. They had four sons and one daughter.

Lower Canada political career

As a member of a prominent family in Lower Canada and a talented lawyer, Ogden advanced quickly in his profession and in politics. He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada for Trois-Rivières in 1814 and was its representative until he was defeated in the general election of 1824, while he was in England. He was re-elected in 1826 and held the seat until 1833.

He was appointed King's Counsel in 1816, attorney general for the Trois-Rivières district in 1818, and solicitor general for Lower Canada in 1824. In 1833, he was named attorney general for Lower Canada. Under a policy of the British Colonial Office, he resigned his seat in the Legislative Assembly on his appointment as attorney general.

Even though the population of Trois-Rivières was largely French-Canadian, and Ogden was a member of the British Tory group, he was generally popular with his constituents. He held the seat through his strong personality and firm grasp of local patronage. When he was re-elected in 1826, he was one of the few government supporters to retain his seat in the French-Canadian areas of the province. 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.

Lower Canada Rebellion

In November 1837, as the unrest grew which would culminate in the Lower Canada Rebellion, Ogden, along with Solicitor General Michael O'Sullivan, wrote a legal opinion for Governor General Lord Gosford, which held that the Governor General had the power to declare martial law in the event of a rebellion. Gosford relied on that opinion when he declared martial law in the district of Montreal on December 5, 1837. As Attorney-General, Ogden was chief Crown prosecutor of the Patriotes who had been involved in the 1837 rebellion, twelve of whom were hanged.

In 1838, the British government passed a statute suspending the constitution of Lower Canada. Instad, the colony was governed by the Governor General, assisted by the Special Council of Lower Canada, appointed by the Governor General. Ogden was appointed to the Special Council in 1840, staying in office until the Act of Union, 1840 came into force in February 1841.

Province of Canada

He was elected again for Trois-Rivières in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada in 1841.

Ogden's leadership as premier in supporting 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.

On his return, Ogden protested his loss of the office of Attorney General. He argued that he had been appointed "during good behaviour", not "at pleasure", and could not simply be dismissed for political reasons. His protest was not accepted, as the Attorney General was now a political position, under the new principles of responsible government.

Move to England

After his loss of the position of Attorney General, Ogden returned to England in 1842. He became a member of the English bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1844 and was appointed attorney general for the Isle of Man. He then returned briefly to Canada to settle his affairs, before relocating permanently to England. In 1857 he was appointed Registrar of the Liverpool Probate Court. He held the two positions for the rest of his life.>ref name =naq/>

Ogden died at Edge Hill, near Liverpool, in 1866.

References

1. ^ Lorne Ste. Croix, "Ogden, Charles Richard", Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. IX (1861–1870), University of Toronto / Université Laval.
2. ^ "Biography of Charles Richard Ogden". Dictionnaire des parlementaires du Québec de 1792 à nos jours (in French). National Assembly of Quebec.
3. ^ D.A. McGregor, " 'Old Whitehead' — Peter Skene Ogden", (1953) 17 British Columbia Historical Quarterly, Nos. 3 and 4, 161–196, at p. 165, note (12).
4. J.-M. Fecteau, "Mesures d'exception et règle de droit : Les conditions d'application de la loi martiale au Québec lors des rebellions de 1837-1838", (1987) 32 McGill Law Journal 465, at pp. 482–483.
5. Phillip A. Buckner, "Rebellion in Lower Canada (The Patriots' War)", Canadian Encyclopedia, published July 24, 2013 (updated by Richard Foot and Andrew McIntosh, July 23, 2020).
6. Maxime Dagenais, "Special Council of Lower Canada (1838–1841)", Canadian Encyclopedia, published October 22, 2014; edited March 4, 2015.

External links

• "Biography". Dictionnaire des parlementaires du Québec de 1792 à nos jours (in French). National Assembly of Quebec.
• "Charles Richard Ogden". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2016.

• 1791 births
• 1866 deaths
• Attorneys-General of Lower Canada
• Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada
• Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada East
• Members of the Special Council of Lower Canada
• Pre-Confederation Quebec people
• Premiers of the Province of Canada