Kingsford, Rupert Etherege

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Tracy D. Hynes, “KINGSFORD, RUPERT ETHEREGE,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/kingsford_rupert_etherege_14E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Solicitor, lecturer, author, and police magistrate; b. 20 Oct. 1849 in Montreal, son of William Kingsford and Maria Margaret Lindsay; m. 16 March 1875 Alice Laura Marian Kingston, daughter of George Templeman Kingston, in Toronto, and they had at least four daughters and four sons; d. there 7 Oct. 1920.
    • As a youth, Rupert E. Kingsford attended Upper Canada College in Toronto from 1861 to 1865. He then entered the University of Toronto, where he subsequently received scholarships in the classics and modern languages. A member of the university rifle corps, in 1866 he accompanied it to battle the Fenians at Ridgeway; he sustained a wound and was later decorated. Following this service Kingsford reapplied himself to academic pursuits at the university, acquiring a ba in 1869 and an ma two years later. In 1873, after three years in the faculty of law, he was granted an llb. Because he had also attended Osgoode Hall as a student-at-law, he was called to the bar that same year.
    • Kingsford would practise law for at least 19 years, in a number of partnerships. Most likely he worked predominantly on civil cases or as an estate executor, rather than in criminal court. Between 1896 and 1914 Kingsford authored a number of legal works. Commentaries on the law of Ontario . . . (Toronto, 1896), an adaptation of William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the laws of England.
    • Other pursuits allowed Kingsford to indulge his ardent imperialism. In 1886, a year before his father’s monumental history of Canada began appearing, Kingsford’s play The campaign of 1815 was published. A historical story about the battle of Waterloo, it underlined his belief that Canada and Britain must fight, united, to ensure liberty for all. His affiliations included membership in the Queen’s Own Rifles and terms on the executive committee of the British Empire League and as president in 1911–12 of the Ontario division of the Canadian Defence League. Kingsford held that every man should enlist in the reserve forces to help preserve the British empire.
    • Kingsford was most noted for his work as a police magistrate. In June 1894 the province had made him a deputy police magistrate for Toronto; in March 1899 the city elevated him to assistant magistrate. Kingsford presided over the police court when veteran magistrate George Taylor Denison was absent and in April 1902 he became Toronto’s second police magistrate. He was responsible primarily for hearing cases of public order – his was the “drunk court.”
  • Second Great Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=4295
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69015430/rupert-etherege-kingsford