Denison, Frederick Charles

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: O. A. Cooke, “DENISON, FREDERICK CHARLES,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 12, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/denison_frederick_charles_12E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Militia officer, lawyer, author, politician, and businessman; b. 22 Nov. 1846 at Rusholme, near Toronto, fourth child of George Taylor Denison and Mary Anne Dewson; m. 22 April 1874 Julia Abigail Macklem, and they had six sons and two daughters; d. 15 April 1896 at Rusholme.
    • A member of an influential and wealthy family with a keen interest in the militia, Frederick Charles Denison was privately educated until 1858, when he entered Upper Canada College. In 1864 he became a law student at Osgoode Hall. Called to the bar in 1870, he entered practice with his elder brother, George Taylor. As George became increasingly occupied as a militia officer, author, and police magistrate, the work of the thriving practice fell more and more on Fred.
    • On 25 Aug. 1865 he was gazetted cornet in the 1st Volunteer Militia Troop of Cavalry of York County; in April 1866 it became the Governor General’s Body Guard under George’s command. With his troop, Fred was again in the field during the Fenian crisis of 1866, commanding a picquet following the action at Ridgeway. At the time of the disturbances at Red River in 1869–70, a combined British-Canadian expedition was organized to go overland to maintain order. Determined to participate, Denison obtained a position as Canadian “orderly officer” to the commander, Wolseley, apparently through the connivance of George and Wolseley. 
    • Although Denison had not anticipated re-entering politics, in June 1883 he was acclaimed as an alderman for St Stephen’s Ward following a resignation. He was soon chairman of both the executive and the finance committees, and on occasion acted for Mayor Arthur Radcliffe Boswell. An active proponent of Toronto’s annexation of Rosedale, Riverside, and Brockton, he was again acting in the family interest, for the Denisons held land in Brockton. In 1884 Denison’s name was being mentioned as a possible candidate for mayor the following year. Any thoughts of a bid for the mayoralty were overtaken by Denison’s plunge into imperial events.
    • Denison’s career was something of a dichotomy. On the one hand he remained all his life very much a man of Toronto. He was a conventional municipal politician. Even as a federal legislator, he ensured that much of his effort was on behalf of Toronto. On the other hand, although his military career was always under threat of being overshadowed by that of his brother George, in 1884–85 he succeeded in breaking through the limits of a Canadian militia career by means of his friendships among the gifted Wolseley ring of officers. He thus commanded Canadians in their first military venture overseas as part of an imperial force.
  • Great Grandson of Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory –https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=4714
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/63571153/frederick-charles-denison