Joseph Thompson (Canadian politician)

Joseph Thompson
portrait by Edmund Wyly Grier
Ontario MPP
In office
1926–1929
Preceded by Riding established
Succeeded by Wilfrid Heighington
Constituency St. David
In office
1919–1926
Preceded by Mark Howard Irish
Succeeded by Riding abolished
Constituency Toronto Northeast - Seat B
Personal details
Born July 19, 1867
Toronto, Ontario
Died March 16, 1941 (aged 73)
Political party Conservative
Spouse(s) Ida M. Wilkinson
Occupation Insurance broker
For other persons named Joseph Thompson, see Joseph Thompson (disambiguation)

Joseph Elijah Thompson (July 19, 1867[1] March 16, 1941[2]) was speaker of the Legislature of Ontario from 1924 to 1926 and served as Conservative MLA for St. David and Toronto Northeast from 1919 to 1929.[3]

This was the period of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party's rule under James P. Whitney.[4]

Thompson was born in Toronto, the son of Joseph Thompson,[1] and grew up in Toronto's Cabbagetown neighbourhood. He was educated at Dufferin School and Jarvis Collegiate. At 17, he was employed as a clerk in a dry goods store. In 1889, he became a treasury clerk for the city of Toronto. In 1898, he married Ida M. Wilkinson. In 1907, he became Toronto's Commissioner of Industry and Publicity. In 1908, Thompson entered business on his own as an insurance broker.[2] He served as city controller in 1915. He was a captain in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during World War I.[1]

After he left politics in 1929, he was named registrar for the Toronto surrogate court. Thompson lost this appointment in 1934 and returned to the insurance business. In 1939, he ran unsuccessfully for a seat on Toronto city council. He died in Toronto two years later.[2]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Normandin, A L (1928). Canadian Parliamentary Guide.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Dale, Clare A (1992). Whose servant I am" : speakers of the assemblies of the province of Upper Canada, Canada and Ontario, 1792-1992. Toronto: Ontario Legislative Library. pp. 218–19.
  3. Ontario Legislative Assembly Parliamentarian History
  4. Humphries, Charles W. (1998). "Whitney, Sir James Pliny". In Cook, Ramsay; Hamelin, Jean. Dictionary of Canadian Biography. XIV (1911–1920) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.