32 Facts About John Abbott

John Abbott held office as the leader of the Conservative Party.

John Abbott studied law at McGill University and became one of Montreal's best-known lawyers, later returning to McGill as a professor of law and earning a Doctor of Civil Law degree.

John Abbott was perhaps best known for his successful defence of the perpetrators of the St Albans Raid.

John Abbott was appointed to the Senate in 1887, in order to become leader of the Government in the Senate.

John Abbott became prime minister in June 1891 following Macdonald's death in office.

John Abbott was the first native-born Canadian prime minister, both Macdonald and Alexander Mackenzie having been born in Scotland, and the first to serve as Prime Minister while sitting in the Senate rather than the House of Commons.

John Abbott was 70 years old at the time, and served only until November 1892 when he retired due to ill health.

John Abbott was born in St Andrews, Lower Canada, to Harriet and the Rev Joseph John Abbott, an Anglican missionary from Little Strickland, England.

John Abbott was the great-grandfather of Canadian actor Christopher Plummer and the first cousin of Maude John Abbott, one of Canada's earliest female medical graduates and an expert on congenital heart disease.

John Abbott commanded the regiment on the border multiple times throughout the Fenian Raids, on March 8,1866, they were called out for active service and were stationed in various villages throughout Argenteuil.

John Abbott retired from the militia as a Lieutenant Colonel, commanding the 11th Battalion, on June 22,1883.

John Abbott successfully argued that the Confederates were belligerents rather than criminals and therefore should not be extradited.

John Abbott began lecturing in commercial and criminal law at McGill in 1853, and in 1855 he became a professor and dean of its Faculty of Law, where Wilfrid Laurier, a future prime minister of Canada, was among his students.

John Abbott eventually joined the Loyal Orange Lodge of British North America, well known as a pro-British organization.

John Abbott first ran for Canada's Legislative Assembly in 1857 in the Argenteuil district, northwest of Montreal.

John Abbott served as solicitor general for Lower Canada representing the liberal administration of John Sandfield Macdonald and Louis Sicotte, from 1862 until 1863.

John Abbott reluctantly supported Canada's confederation, fearing the reduction of the political power of Lower Canada's English-speaking minority.

John Abbott was elected to the House of Commons in 1867 as member for Argenteuil.

John Abbott was removed from his seat by petition in 1874 following his involvement in the Pacific Scandal.

John Abbott narrowly lost the 1878 election, then won in February 1880, only to have his victory declared void because of bribery allegations.

John Abbott was elected in a by-election in August 1881.

John Abbott served as Leader of the Government in the Senate from May 12,1887, to October 30,1893 and as Minister without Portfolio in Macdonald's cabinet.

John Abbott served two one-year terms as mayor of Montreal from 1887 to 1889.

John Abbott was involved in the promotion of several railway projects, including the Canadian Pacific Railway.

John Abbott worked to incorporate and arrange financing for the first CPR syndicate.

John Abbott was a key organizer of a second syndicate which eventually completed the construction of Canada's first transcontinental railway in 1885, serving as its solicitor from 1880 to 1887 and as a director from 1885 to 1891.

John Abbott was one of just two Canadian Prime Ministers, the other being Mackenzie Bowell, to have held the office while serving in the Senate rather than the House of Commons.

John Abbott attempted in 1892 to negotiate a new treaty of reciprocity with the United States, but failed to reach an agreement.

One year into his time as prime minister, John Abbott attempted to turn the office over to Thompson, but this was rejected due to anti-Catholic sentiment in the Tory caucus.

John Abbott died less than a year later at the age of 72.

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

John Abbott was named a Person of National Historic Significance by the Government of Canada in 1938.