1820–1903
Mount Pleasant Cemetery
Plot W Lot 57
Born in Kingston, Upper Canada, Oliver Mowat would become one of Canada’s most influential statesmen. After studying law and being called to the Bar in 1842, Mowat began his career in Kingston before moving to Toronto, where he quickly rose in prominence. His early political life saw him elected alderman in 1857 and, later that year, to the Legislative Assembly. A staunch advocate for responsible government, Mowat played a pivotal role as a delegate at the 1864 Quebec Conference, helping to draft the British North America Act, which earned him a place among the Fathers of Confederation.
In 1872, Mowat became Ontario’s Premier and Attorney General, a position he held for an astonishing 24 years. His tenure was marked by defending provincial rights against federal encroachment and helping to shape Ontario’s modern identity. Knighted in 1892, he later served as a federal MP, Senator and, finally, Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor in 1897.
Sir Oliver Mowat passed away on April 19, 1903. Today, his legacy lives on at Plot W Lot 57 in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, a resting place befitting a man who helped define Canada’s constitutional framework, and his early leadership of the province of Ontario.
Sources:
• Dictionary of Canadian Biography – Mowat, Oliver
• The Canadian Encyclopedia
• Mount Pleasant Group – Oliver Mowat
Photos:
• Drawing - Digital Archives Ontario
• Portrait de Oliver Mowat, premier ministre de l'Ontario, Collections Canada archive copy, User Digging.holes on fr.wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia common
• Ontario. Cabinet, 1891, 1/2 plate glass copy neg. from composite photo by Josiah Bruce, Public domain, via Wikimedia common
