Joly De Lotbiniere, Sir Henri Gustave
JOLY DE LOTBINIERE, SIR HENRI GUSTAVE (1829-1908), Canadian politician, was born at Epernay in France on the sth of December 1829. His father, Gaspard Pierre Gustave Joly, the owner of famous vineyards at Epernay, was of Huguenot descent, and married Julie Christine, grand-daughter of Eustache Gaspard Michel Chartier de Lotbiniere, marquis de Lotbiniere (one of Montcalm's engineers at Quebec); he thus became seigneur de Lotbiniere. Henri Gustave adopted the name of de Lotbiniere in 1888, under a statute of the province of Quebec. He was educated in Paris, and called to the bar of lower Canada in 1858. On the 6th of May 1856 he married Margaretta Josepha (d. 1904), daughter of Hammond Gowen, of Quebec. At the general election of 1861 he was elected to the house of assembly of the province of Canada as Liberal member for the county of Lotbiniere, and from 1867 to 1874 he represented the same county in the House of Commons, Ottawa, and in the legislative assembly, Quebec. Joly was opposed to confederation and supported Dorion in the stand which he took on this question. In 1878 he was called by Luc Letellier de St Just, lieutenantgovernor of Quebec, to form an administration, which was defeated in 1879, and until 1883 he was leader of the opposition. During his brief administration he adopted a policy of retrenchment, and endeavoured to abolish the legislative council. In 1885, as a protest against the attitude of his party to wards Louis Riel, who was tried and executed for High treason, he retired from public life. Early in the year 1895 he was induced again to take an active part in the campaign of his party, and at the general election of 1896 he was returned as member for the county of Portneuf. He had already in 1895 been created K.C.M.G. On the formation of Sir Wilfrid Laurier's administration he accepted the office of controller of inland revenue, and a year later he became a privy councillor, as minister of inland revenue. From 1900 to 1906 he was lieutenant-governor of the province of British Columbia. He twice declined a seat in the senate, but rendered eminent service to Canada by promoting the interest of agriculture, horticulture and of forestry. He died on the 17th of November 1908. (A. G. D.)
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
