25 Facts About Mackenzie Bowell

When in his early teens, Bowell was apprenticed to the printing shop of the local newspaper, the Belleville Intelligencer, and some 15 years later, became its owner and proprietor.

Mackenzie Bowell served variously as Minister of Customs, Minister of Militia and Defence, and Minister of Trade and Commerce.

Mackenzie Bowell kept his Commons seat continuously for 25 years, through a period of Liberal Party rule in the 1870s.

Mackenzie Bowell became Leader of the Government in the Senate the following year.

The Earl of Aberdeen, Canada's governor general, appointed Mackenzie Bowell to replace Thompson as prime minister, due to his status as the most senior cabinet member.

Mackenzie Bowell stayed on as a senator until his death at the age of 93, but never again held ministerial office; he served continuously as a Canadian parliamentarian for 50 years.

Mackenzie Bowell was born in Rickinghall, England, to John Mackenzie Bowell and Elizabeth Marshall.

Mackenzie Bowell became a successful printer and editor with that newspaper, and later its owner.

Mackenzie Bowell helped organize the Belleville Volunteer Militia Rifle Company in 1857 with whom he served on active duty at Amherstburg, Upper Canada, during the Trent Affair.

Mackenzie Bowell joined the 15th Belleville Battalion in 1863, and served on active duty as an Ensign in No 6 Company, 1st Administrative Battalion, on the Niagara Frontier from December 1864 to July 1865.

Mackenzie Bowell was promoted to Major in the 49th Battalion of Rifles on February 22,1867, and qualified for the First Class Certificate at the Military School of Instruction on March 1.

Mackenzie Bowell was promoted to Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel on February 22,1872, and retired from the militia on March 24,1874, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in that regiment.

Mackenzie Bowell was first elected to the House of Commons in 1867 as a Conservative for the riding of Hastings North, Ontario.

Mackenzie Bowell held his seat for the Conservatives when they lost the election of January 1874, in the wake of the Pacific Scandal.

Mackenzie Bowell's visit to Australia in 1893 led to the first leaders' conference of British colonies and territories, held in Ottawa in 1894.

Mackenzie Bowell became leader of the government in the Senate on October 31,1893.

Mackenzie Bowell thus became the second of just two Canadian prime ministers to hold that office while serving in the Senate rather than the House of Commons.

Mackenzie Bowell was further hampered in his handling of the issue by his own indecisiveness on it and by his inability, as a senator, to take part in debates in the House of Commons.

Mackenzie Bowell backed legislation, already drafted, that would have forced Manitoba to restore its Catholic schools, but then postponed it due to opposition within his Cabinet.

Mackenzie Bowell formally resigned in favour of Tupper at the end of the parliamentary session.

Mackenzie Bowell stayed in the Senate, serving as his party's leader there until 1906, and afterward as a regular Senator until his death in 1917, having served continuously for more than 50 years as a federal parliamentarian.

Mackenzie Bowell died of pneumonia in Belleville, seventeen days short of his 94th birthday.

Mackenzie Bowell's funeral was attended by a full complement of the Orange Order, but not by any currently or formerly elected member of the government.

Mackenzie Bowell was designated a National Historic Person in 1945, on the advice of the national Historic Sites and Monuments Board.

Until 2017, Mackenzie Bowell remained the only Canadian prime minister without a full-length biography of his life and career.