Ogden, Charles Richard

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Lorne Ste. Croix, “OGDEN, CHARLES RICHARD,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/ogden_charles_richard_9E.html
  • DCB profile:
    • Lawyer, politician, and public servant; b. 6 Feb. 1791 in Quebec City, one of 11 sons of Isaac Ogden, loyalist and puisne judge of the Court of King’s Bench at Montreal, and Sarah Hanson; m. first, at Walcot, Somerset, England, in July 1824, Mary Aston, daughter of General John Coffin, and they had two children, both of whom died at an early age; m. secondly, at Montreal in August 1829, Susan, daughter of Isaac Winslow Clarke, deputy commissary general at Montreal, and they had four sons and a daughter; d. 19 Feb. 1866 at Edge-hill, near Liverpool, England.
    • In May 1814 Ogden commenced a political career with his election to the House of Assembly for Trois-Rivières. Although a Tory, he represented this largely French Canadian constituency almost uninterruptedly for the next 19 years, by means of the tight control over local politics wielded by his supporters among the merchants, combined with the force of his own personality. His only electoral defeat occurred in 1824 while he was absent in England; he easily regained the seat in the contest of 1826.
    • In 1833 he was appointed attorney general for Lower Canada, and consequently resigned from the legislature in response to the Colonial Office’s request that public officers maintain “a cautious abstinence” from politics. Yet, in the aftermath of the rebellions of 1837–38, Ogden’s participation in events, as an intimate adviser to the hated Governor Sir John Colborne, as chief prosecutor of the arrested “rebels,” as a member, after 1840, of the Special Council, and as provider of an official countersignature, in February 1841, to the proclamation of the union of Upper and Lower Canada, deepened the hostility with which he was regarded by French Canadians at large.
    • Following the close of the session of 1841, Ogden departed for Europe on a year’s leave. In his absence, the government of William Henry Draper, of which he was a member, resigned; he returned in 1842 to discover that Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine had replaced him as attorney general for Canada East. Furthermore, the new Reform administration refused a suggestion that Ogden be offered a government pension. He returned almost immediately to England to seek official redress, probably with the aid of Lord Lyndhurst to whom he was related through his second wife, but without success.
    • In the spring of 1844, Ogden briefly revisited Canada to settle his affairs; he had been admitted earlier that year to the English bar at Lincoln’s Inn and appointed attorney general of the Isle of Man. In 1857 he accepted the further appointment of registrar of the Liverpool Probate Court. He retained these positions until his death on 19 Feb. 1866.
  • Son of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=13238
  • Find a Grave: Cannot locate