Pipes, William Thomas

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: J. Murray Beck, “PIPES, WILLIAM THOMAS,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 13, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/pipes_william_thomas_13E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Lawyer, politician, and businessman; b. 15 April 1850 in Amherst, N.S., son of Jonathan B. Pipes and Caroline Fowler; m. 23 Nov. 1876 Ruth Eliza McElmon in Fort Lawrence, N.S., and they had three daughters; d. 7 Oct. 1909 in Boston.
    • ADescended from Yorkshire Methodist and loyalist stock, William Thomas Pipes was educated at Amherst Academy, and he was admitted to the Nova Scotian bar in 1875. His victory in Cumberland during the provincial election of 1882 had unexpected, even bizarre, consequences, the result of the fact that the successful Liberals were without a recognized leader. William Stevens Fielding, who had unofficially directed the Liberal campaign as editor of the Halifax Morning Chronicle, could probably have had the leadership, but he refused because of his limited financial resources. Accordingly, construction of the cabinet was left to the caucus, where cabals abounded with their intrigues and jealousies. Not only did it name the three ministers with portfolio, but it also selected the “premier” (as the “leader of the government” was beginning to be known), an office unrecognized in law and hence unpaid. To almost everyone’s surprise it chose the 32-year-old Pipes, who had never sat in a legislature. In so doing it put him in an impossible situation by not according him a portfolio: in order to support his family, he needed to carry on a law practice in Amherst, while to conduct the business of government he required frequent, sometimes extended, stays in Halifax.
    • Although Pipes had got through the session of 1884 comfortably, his financial, family, and personal problems remained. Lieutenant Governor Matthew Henry Richey found him highly reticent, even with his own ministers with portfolio. The latter had objected to his appointing Fielding to the Executive Council without consulting them and had resisted attempts to confer ministerial offices with emolument on himself or Fielding. In May 1884 Pipes put several hypothetical questions to Richey. When he enquired if his resignation would mean the dissolution of the ministry, Richey replied in the affirmative. Asked whether he would accept Pipes’s recommendation of a successor, Richey said that he would if the ministry appeared to be acting together and possessed a majority in the assembly. On 14 July Pipes presented his resignation and on his advice Fielding was appointed to succeed him. 
    • The death of Pipes’s wife in 1894 affected him for months, but because his children were now grown at least the family and financial impediments to active politics were no longer present. On the invitation of George Henry Murray, Fielding’s successor as premier, he became government leader in the Legislative Council and a member of the Executive Council in January 1898. For nine years he was the government’s spokesman in the upper house and chairman of the committee on government bills, where he displayed his expertise in legal matters to the full. Despite his reputation he was almost always conciliatory.
    • The normally reticent George Murray declared Pipes to have been “more than a colleague,” in fact, “my personal companion” for many years. A man of dual characteristics, he often appeared gruff and abrupt, but when he wished, no one could be more pleasing. Not a practical politician, not a flashy orator, no courter of popularity, he nevertheless had political success. 
  • Great Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=9626
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/86676304/william-thomas-pipes