Sir John Hawkins Hagarty

John (I made it)

Sir John Hawkins Hagarty was born in 1816 on December the 17th in Dublin Ireland. His father was Matthew Hagarty and his mother's name was Ann Elizabeth Hawkins. He grew up and attended Trinity College in Dublin. He was known as a bright and intelligent boy and was popular amongst his classmates and friends. Although he did very well at school he left before he got his degree because he saw an opportunity for a new and better life in a different land. This was a very common thing for young people of that time. So at the age of 18 he left his home for a ship bound for Canada. A year later he arrived in Canada where for a year he worked on a farm before heading to the brand new city of Toronto. John's brother Matthew also left Ireland but went to the United States instead.

John (Web)

After he arrived in Canada he decided to become a lawyer and after several years was called to the bar in 1840. In time he formed a partnership with John Crawford who later became the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. I believe that John Crawford was a good influence on him while he was a young man just starting out. In 1850 he was made Queens council, in 1856 he was appointed a Judge, and in 1868 the chief justice of the court of common pleas , and 10 years later he become the chief justice of Ontario. He was also a poet and published a book of poetry. When first offered to be knighted he declined the honour, but later accepted it in 1897 after he retired. He made very wise decisions as a judge because judgments were not changed as frequently as any other judge at that time. Even though he made wise decisions he found it very hard to do so and coming to those decisions was very troubling for him. He was involved in some decisions about slavery and escaped slaves from the United States. For a while he taught law at the University of Toronto and in 1855 was an honourary degree from there. Sir John's portrait hangs in Osgoode Hall in Toronto.

Court (I made it)

I believe that Sir John Hawkins Hagarty was a hero in many ways. He left home at a young age and dedicated his life to the law in a brand new and young country. He left his home with nothing and through hard work and his brains became Chief Justice and a Knight. He died in 1900 in Toronto only three years after he retired. Around 1915 a steamship built in Collingwood, Ontario, was named in his honour. It sailed the oceans until the 1950's, almost 140 years after he was born. His son Colonel William Hagarty was awarded the Distinguished Service Order with the Oak Leaf Cluster for bravery in battle in the first world war. He helped to build a new country and make Canada what it is today.

Sir John's son Colonel Hagarty was a hero too, but in a different way. Colonel Hagarty was a hero the way most people think of a hero, being brave in battle, but his father was like a pioneer hero. He helped to build a new country and make Canada what it is today. A safe and law abiding country in an unsafe world and a place where many people in the world would like to live. John helped create this country when it was first starting to be a country. He was one of the main people who pulled it together and made Canada Canada.