Canadian Orange Biographies Recovered from the Archive

Thirty-four men, one Speaker of the House of Commons, six provincial Grand Masters, a bookbinder suspended from his lodge for marrying a Roman Catholic, and a Toronto soap and candle manufacturer with a shop at 131 Queen Street East. Those are the lives that sat on five biographical compilation pages of the original Canadian Orange Historical Site until the site went offline. This page recovers all of them from the Internet Archive, together with the one surviving Addy family record and the Canadian Expeditionary Force commanders the compilations name. Every date, place and lodge number below was read in the archive on 2 August 2026.

What these pages were

The old site numbered its biography pages loosely and inconsistently: CanadianOrangeBiographies6.php, CanadianOrangeBiographies8.php, Biography25.php, NewfoundlandBiographies3.php and Orangebiographies9.php all sat in the same series without following one naming rule. Two of them name their printed source, the Commemorative and Biographical Record of the County of York for 1907 and the Newfoundland Biographies Centennial Edition of 1967. The others do not, and the underlying source for those entries is not recoverable from the archived HTML.

These are compilation entries rather than obituaries. They were written about living or recently dead public men and they emphasise office, not family. For family detail on a name found here, the newspaper notices recovered at Orange obituaries are the better record, and the 1911 Ontario West death roll is where a lodge number turns into a county.

The index

Canadian Orange Biographies 6

Thomas Simpson Sproule was born on 25 October 1843 in King Township, Upper Canada, to parents from County Tyrone who had come out in 1836. He took his M.D. at Victoria College in Cobourg in 1868 after study at the University of Michigan, opened a practice at Markdale in Grey County the following year, and lived there for the rest of his life. He was elected to the House of Commons as Conservative member for Grey East in 1878 and held the seat until 1915.

He had been initiated into the Order in 1862. In the 1889 debate over the Jesuit Estates Act he sided with his party, and at the next election he scraped back in by nineteen votes. The archived page treats that near miss as the turn of his career: he never again voted against Orange principles in the Commons. In 1895, with the House debating the Manitoba Remedial School Bill, he was offered a cabinet post to vote with the government and refused, and on second reading in March 1896 he and seventeen others voted against their own party. He and Clarke Wallace then filibustered the bill until the government withdrew it and called an election.

On Clarke Wallace’s death in October 1901 the office of Grand Master of Canada passed to Sproule, and he held it until 1911, resigning over the resistance to his effort to eliminate the Canadian degrees. During his term he organised lodges across the country against the separate school provisions of the 1905 Autonomy Bills that created Alberta and Saskatchewan, and those provisions were dropped. He was elected President of the Imperial Grand Orange Council of the World in 1906, Speaker of the House of Commons on 15 November 1911, and appointed to the Senate by Robert Borden on 3 December 1915. He died at his home in Markdale on 10 November 1917. A separate obituary of him, dated December 1917 and naming no newspaper, ran on the fourth page of the obituary series and is recovered at Orange obituaries. It gives the same birth and death dates and adds that he had a seizure late on the evening of the 9th and died a few hours later.

Robert Glockling was born in London on 1 August 1854 and apprenticed as a bookbinder at twelve. His family came to Canada in 1868 and he finished his apprenticeship at Copp Clark and Company, joining the Toronto Bookbinders Benevolent Association in 1871. After the Toronto printers’ strike of 1872 he was blacklisted and worked in the United States before returning in 1874.

He was a member of L.O.L. 657, and in 1874 the lodge suspended him for marrying a Roman Catholic. He appealed to the District Lodge, and in April 1875 he was reinstated by a majority of one vote when it was proven that his wife had been a Protestant at the time of the marriage. He later served as master of the lodge. He became president of the Bookbinders Benevolent Association, sat on the executive of District 125 of the Knights of Labour until 1889, was elected president of the Toronto Trades and Labour Council in 1889, and had been a founding member of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada in 1883. Premier Ross appointed him secretary of the new Bureau of Labour in 1900 and he held the post until 1906. He moved to Indianapolis that year and died there of cancer on 6 February 1913.

Emerson Coatsworth was born in Toronto on 9 March 1854, the son of the City Commissioner. He was called to the Ontario bar in 1879, took an LL.B. from the University of Toronto in 1886 and was created K.C. in 1908. He sat as Conservative member for Toronto East from 1891 to 1896, served as a Toronto alderman in 1904 and 1905, and was mayor from 1906 to 1908. He chaired the city’s License Commissioning Board from 1908 to 1916, was appointed a judge in the County of York in 1914 and served until 1929, and was senior police magistrate for Toronto from 1925 to 1934. He belonged to L.O.L. 781 in Toronto and chaired the Alexander Muir Memorial Commemoration Committee.

Canadian Orange Biographies 8

Thomas Hill was born in Cornwall on 13 June 1807, reached Quebec City in 1831 and moved to New Brunswick in 1836, working as a carpenter at Woodstock, Fredericton and Saint John. He started a penny newspaper, The Aurora, in 1842, which lasted less than a year, and edited The Saint John Loyalist from 1843 to 1848. Arrested for opposing responsible government and accusing the governing party of wanting to turn the province into a republic, he laid charges in return, won his case and was awarded damages. The archived page treats that judgment as the end of jailing writers without trial in New Brunswick. He formed the first Orange Lodge in Fredericton, Graham L.O.L. No. 20, on 5 July 1844, and published A Book of Orange Songs in 1850. He was married to an Irish Roman Catholic. He died penniless in Fredericton on 13 October 1860. Graham L.O.L. No. 20 is the lodge Percy Albert Guthrie belonged to two generations later.

George H. Hillmer was born at Oakville in about 1867, ran a livery business and later a car dealership, and sat on the Oakville town council for over thirty years from 1895, including three years as mayor from 1910 to 1912 and nine as Reeve. He beat E. C. Drury for the Conservatives in Halton in 1923 and represented the riding again from 1926 to 1929. He was a past master of L.O.L. No. 272 and County Master of Halton in 1905. He died on 18 January 1935.

Rev. Joshua Hinchcliffe was born at Bradford on 24 May 1868. An Anglican minister and an architect, he was in charge of St. Peter’s Mission at the Pigeon Reserve at Macleod, Alberta, and was the first rector of St. Luke’s in Red Deer, drawing the plans for the church and supervising the building himself. He was bandmaster of the 104 Munster Fusiliers of New Westminster in 1911 and 1912 and a military chaplain with the 143rd Battalion in France. He was called to the bar in 1923, was elected to the British Columbia Legislature for Victoria as a Conservative in 1920, was re-elected in 1924 and 1928, and became Minister of Education in 1928. He was listed as a Past County Master in 1937 and died in 1954. The archived page spells the surname both Hinchcliffe and Hinchliffe within the same entry.

Rev. Cecil Hobbs was born at Elliston, Newfoundland, in 1921, educated at Dalhousie and Mount Allison, entered training for the United Church ministry in 1943 and was ordained in 1954. He held pastorates at Heart’s Content, Bishops Falls, Bell Island, Harbour Grace and Salmon Cove, chaired the Grand Falls Presbytery in 1963 and 1964 and the Avalon Presbytery from 1971 to 1973. He was a Deputy Grand Chaplain of the Grand Orange Lodge of Newfoundland and Chaplain of the Grand Black Chapter of Newfoundland. He retired in 1986 and died at Carbonear on 26 September 2008.

James Hoey was born in County Tipperary and came to Canada in 1852, settling first in Grey County and then in Binbrook Township, where he sat on the council for twenty-one years and was Reeve from 1870 to 1877. He was lodge master of the Binbrook Orange Lodge for seven years and served as a captain in the 77th Regiment during the Fenian Raids. He moved west in 1882 and commanded a company of the Prince Albert Volunteers during the 1885 Northwest Rebellion. He was elected for Kinistino in the first election of the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly and served until 1891. He died at Prince Albert on 14 September 1903.

John Andrew Hope, K.C. was born at Perth, Ontario, on 4 May 1890, called to the bar in 1914 and set up practice in Perth. He was a captain in the 42nd Battalion of Militia from 1910 to 1914, a captain in the 59th Battalion during the First World War, and later commanding officer of the 46th Battalion. Wounded twice, he was awarded the Military Cross after the Battle of Lens and the D.S.O. after Amiens. He was Crown Attorney for Ottawa from 1923 to 1933, was appointed to the Supreme Court of Ontario in 1933 and elevated to the Court of Appeal in 1946. In 1945 he was appointed chairman of a Royal Commission on Education in Ontario, whose 1950 report shaped the province’s school system for the next two decades. At least one other member of that committee, Loftus Reid, was Grand Secretary of the Grand Orange Lodge of Canada. Hope wrote Where Knowledge is Free in 1954 and died in February 1955.

James Henry Howden, K.C. was born at Milton, Ontario, on 11 October 1860, articled in law with N. F. Hagel and was called to the Manitoba bar in 1887. He practised in Winnipeg for five years, moved to Neepawa, was elected mayor there in 1892 and served eight years. He won Beautiful Plains for the Conservatives in a by-election on 2 December 1903, was re-elected in 1907 and named Railway Commissioner by Premier Roblin, became Provincial Secretary on 6 November 1908 and Attorney General on 11 October 1911. He resigned on 12 May 1915 after a commission of enquiry found the government guilty of corruption in the tendering of the Manitoba legislature building contracts. He was indicted and cleared of criminal responsibility, and died in 1938.

Biography 25

This page carried nine short entries, several of them attributed on the page itself to the Commemorative and Biographical Record of the County of York, Ontario, for 1907.

George Ashton Weeks was born at Woodville, Ontario, on 22 August 1894, served as a captain in the 109th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and in France with the 4th Canadian Division, opened a general store at Lorneville after the war, and in 1924 was appointed Commanding Officer of the Victoria and Haliburton Regiment.

Ernest George Westbury was born at Nottingham on 29 October 1886, enlisted in the 134th Battalion in January 1916, served in France with the 19th Battalion and was gassed and wounded at Passchendaele on 3 November 1917. He sat on the York Township council from 1924 to 1927 and was Reeve in 1928 and 1929. He was convicted in the Assize Court of the County of York for conspiracy and municipal corruption and sentenced to eighteen months in the Provincial Reformatory. The archived page spells the battle Passchendale.

A. J. Trebilcock was born at Bowmanville on 23 September 1888, graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School, practised in Toronto, was elected to the Toronto Board of Education, and was a member of McKinley L.O.L. No. 275.

William Herbert Pearson was born at Carp in Carleton County on 20 October 1883, worked as an electrical engineer and was a member of the 5th Lisgar Rifles.

William Peel was born in County Cavan on 12 July 1839, worked on his father’s homestead in Ontario until 1866 and moved to Manitoba in 1870.

Richard Reed was born in Berkshire on 6 July 1862 and came to Canada at twenty. He was a bricklayer in Toronto for twelve years, then a market gardener, and founded a building contractor business.

Archibald Stewart Turner was born in Toronto on 1 May 1870, was a building contractor before becoming a grain dealer, and was chief grain inspector for the federal government for twenty-three years.

John Boxall Turner was born in Sussex and came to Canada in 1834. He was a member of the militia, was present at the skirmish at Montgomery’s Tavern in 1837, and belonged to the York Pioneers.

Robert Stevenson was born at Williamstown in Glengarry County on 28 July 1838, moved to British Columbia in 1859 and was a charter member of Princeton.

Newfoundland Biographies 3

All four entries on this page are attributed to the Newfoundland Biographies Centennial Edition of 1967, which is why three of them stop at that year rather than at a death.

Rev. Arthur Sidney Butt was born on Flat Islands, Bonavista Bay, on 9 January 1908, took a B.A. from Dalhousie and a Doctor of Divinity from Pine Hill Bible College, served as President of the Newfoundland Conference of the United Church of Canada from 1951 to 1954 and as Superintendent of Home Missions from 1959 to 1968. He was a Past Grand Chaplain in the Grand Orange Lodge of Newfoundland and in the Grand Black Chapter of Newfoundland.

Frank Maxwell Rowe was born at Carbonear on 1 August 1916, taught school for six years and joined the Newfoundland civil service. After Confederation he joined the Department of Finance and worked with the Federal Treasury Board distributing Family Allowance cheques to eligible Newfoundlanders. He was a member of Royal Oak L.O.L. and served as Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of Newfoundland.

Leslie William Reid was born at Upper Island Cove on 3 October 1921. A former postmaster and unemployment agent, he was working as an insurance agent and was mayor of Upper Island Cove in 1967.

Frederick Mainwaring Tessier was born at Ferryland on 2 April 1915, served as President of the Newfoundland Federation of Municipalities in 1963 and 1964, and was Mayor of Grand Bank from 1954 to at least 1967, when the entry was written.

The wider Newfoundland context, including the Order’s unusual strength in the outports, is at Orangemen’s Day in Canada.

Orange Biographies 9

George William Acres was born at South March, Ontario, on 31 July 1864, farmed and bred Holstein cattle, was a past master of L.O.L. No. 1095 and sat on the Osgoode Township Council. He died on 2 April 1948.

William Alexander Adams was born at Ballymena, County Antrim, on 14 June 1884 and came to Canada in 1908. He was admitted to the Saskatchewan Bar in 1913 and practised at Qu’Appelle and Indian Head. He served six years with the 22nd Saskatchewan Rifles before the war, enlisted with the 9th Canadian Mounted Rifles in 1914, went overseas with the 1st Battalion and was promoted major after Vimy Ridge. He belonged to L.O.L. No. 2822 at Qu’Appelle and was Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of Saskatchewan from 1926 to 1927.

Robert Aljoe was born in County Armagh on 21 November 1825, came to Canada in 1832 and settled near Innisfail, Ontario. In 1837, aged twelve, he served as a drummer boy with the Queen’s Own Rifles. He was initiated into Churchville L.O.L. No. 81 in 1848 and was also a member of Glenelg L.O.L. No. 1192.

David Edgar Bastedo was born near Woodstock in Oxford Township on 28 November 1860. A member of L.O.L. No. 218 of Bracebridge, he was appointed sheriff of Muskoka County in 1906 and chaired the Bracebridge school board in 1912. He edited The Northern Advocate of Bracebridge and The Muskoka Herald, and died at Bracebridge on 29 November 1925.

Lieutenant Colonel David Wilson Beaubier was born at St. Mary’s, Ontario, on 21 May 1864 and commanded the 181st Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He was elected to the House of Commons as Conservative member for Brandon in 1930 and re-elected in 1935. He belonged to L.O.L. 2035 for sixty-one years and served as County Master of Brandon. He died on 1 September 1938.

Joshua Breadner was born at Keady, County Armagh, in 1826 and settled at Athelstane, Quebec, where he was mayor and Chairman of the Board of School Commissioners, and held the rank of major with the 50th Battalion. He was a member of L.O.L. 30 at Aylmer, Quebec, and also of L.O.L. 871 and R.B.P. 155. He served as District Master of Gatineau in 1857 and as Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of Quebec from 1874 to 1878. He died in 1879.

Jeremiah Carty was born in County Cork in 1820 and appears in the Toronto business directory of 1865 as a soap and candle manufacturer at 131 and 133 Queen Street East. He was a member of Armstrong L.O.L. No. 137 and a Toronto alderman representing St. David’s Ward from 1858 to 1860. He died in 1868.

Rev. Joseph Cautrell was born at Sheffield on 21 October 1880, was a member of L.O.L. No. 242 and was ordained an Anglican minister in 1913. He served at Kitley in 1913, Bancroft in 1915, Shannonville in 1918 and Sharbot Lake in the 1920s.

Netson Ross Craig, Q.C., LL.B. was born in Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, on 15 February 1880, though the archived page notes that another source gives 1874. He contested Shelburne for the Conservatives in 1906 and was defeated, moved to Moose Jaw in 1907 and passed the Saskatchewan bar exams the same year. He was a member of L.O.L. No. 1595 at Moose Jaw and Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of Saskatchewan in 1922. He contested Moose Jaw in the 1925 general election and was not elected.

John Henry Devitt was born in Cartwright Township on 31 January 1855, served nine years on the township council, five as deputy-reeve and one as Reeve, spent six years on the County Council of Northumberland and Durham and was Warden of the United Counties in 1899. He won Durham West for the Conservatives in the Ontario Legislature in 1905 and was re-elected in 1908, 1911 and 1914. He belonged to Blackstock L.O.L. No. 133, served as County Master of West Durham and was elected Junior Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ontario East for 1896 and 1897. He died on 14 June 1940.

Thomas Duke was born at Mono Mills, Ontario, on 10 October 1857 and moved to British Columbia in 1890. By 1911 he was a director of the Vancouver Orange Hall Company and had been a school trustee for ten years. He was Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of British Columbia in 1904 and 1905, and was elected to the British Columbia Legislature for Vancouver in 1916.

The Addy family

The Addy family page survives in the archive as a single caption to a photograph, and the photograph itself does not. What the caption records is worth keeping, because it names five men and two lodge numbers in four lines.

The picture, taken in 1919, showed Henry Addy and his four sons. Henry Addy joined Maple Leaf L.O.L. 455 in 1877 and was a past master of the lodge. Three of his sons, William, Thomas and Henry, were members of Riverdale L.O.L. 2097. Ralph was a member of the Orange Young Britons. All four sons joined the Canadian army.

That is the whole of what the archive preserves. The original site also carried a separate page for Thomas Addy at ThomasAddy.php, but the Internet Archive holds no capture of it, so nothing beyond his membership of Riverdale L.O.L. 2097 can be recovered here. The scan referenced in the archived HTML as Addyfamily.jpg was never captured either.

Battalion commanders named in these compilations

The original site carried a page at BattalionCommanders.php, presumably a list of Orangemen who commanded units of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. That page was never captured by the Internet Archive. What survives is the commanders the biographical compilations happen to name, which is a partial substitute rather than a replacement.

• Lieutenant Colonel David Wilson Beaubier, commanding officer of the 181st Battalion, L.O.L. 2035 and County Master of Brandon.
• John Andrew Hope, captain in the 59th Battalion and later commanding officer of the 46th Battalion, Military Cross and D.S.O.
• Lieutenant Colonel Percy Albert Guthrie, who raised and commanded the 236th Battalion. His full recovered biography is at Percy Albert Guthrie.
• Captain George Ashton Weeks of the 109th Battalion, appointed Commanding Officer of the Victoria and Haliburton Regiment in 1924.
• Rev. Joshua Hinchcliffe, chaplain with the 143rd Battalion, and Major William Alexander Adams of the 1st Battalion, neither of whom commanded a battalion but both of whom the compilations record as senior officers.

The Order’s wartime role, including the enlistment campaigns the lodges ran, is covered at the Orange Order in Canada. For the lodge numbers named throughout this page, the 1871 directory of Ontario West lodges explains why a number alone is not an identifier.