Charles Ramsay Devlin

Charles Ramsay Devlin
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Ottawa (County of)
In office 1891–1896
Preceded by	Alonzo Wright
Succeeded by	District was abolished in 1892
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Wright
In office 1896–1897
Preceded by	Alonzo Wright
Succeeded by	Louis Napoléon Champagne
Member of the UK Parliament for Galway
In office 1903–1906
Preceded by	Arthur Alfred Lynch
Succeeded by	Stephen Gwynn
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Nicolet
In office 1906–1907
Preceded by	Rodolphe Lemieux
Succeeded by	Gustave-Adolphe-Narcisse Turcotte
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec for Nicolet
In office 1907–1912
Preceded by	Alfred Marchildon
Succeeded by	Arthur Trahan
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec for Témiscamingue
In office 1912–1914
Preceded by	Riding created
Succeeded by	Télesphore Simard
Personal details
Born	29 October 1858 Aylmer, Canada East
Died	1 March 1914 (aged 55) Aylmer, Quebec
Political party	Liberal
Other political affiliations	Irish Parliamentary Party Quebec Liberal Party
Relations	Emmanuel Berchmans Devlin, brother, Bernard Devlin, QC, MP, uncle

Charles Ramsay Devlin (29 October 1858 – 1 March 1914) was a Canadian politician who was a Member of Parliament (MP) in the Canadian House of Commons, in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec, and an Irish MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Career

Born in Aylmer, Lower Canada, the son of Charles Devlin and Ellen Roney, his father was a merchant from Roscommon in the Republic of Ireland. After attending the Petit Séminaire de Montréal from 1871 to 1877, he studied at the Université Laval in the faculty of arts from 1879 to 1881 but did not graduate. It is uncertain what his profession was before being elected as the Liberal candidate in 1891 to the Canadian House of Commons for the riding of Ottawa (County of) with the help of his friend Henri Bourassa. He was re-elected in 1896 for the riding of Wright. He resigned in 1897 and was appointed Canada’s first trade commissioner in Ireland and served until 1902.

In 1902, against the advice of Canadian Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, Devlin was elected by acclamation to the British House of Commons as the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate for Galway Borough. From 1903 to 1906, he was secretary general of the United Irish League. After being returned in the January 1906 general election he resigned later that year to return to Canada and was elected to the Canadian House of Commons from the riding of Nicolet. He resigned in 1907, after being appointed minister of colonization, mines, and fisheries in the cabinet of Quebec Premier Lomer Gouin. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec in a 1907 by-election in the riding of Nicolet and was re-elected in 1908 and 1912. He served until his death in 1914.

He was awarded honorary degrees from the Université Laval in 1908 and the University of Ottawa in 1910. His brother, Emmanuel Berchmans Devlin was also a member of the Canadian House of Commons.

References

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

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Charles Ramsay Devlin
• Charles Ramsay Devlin – Parliament of Canada biography