Powell, William Dummer

  • From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: See full biography at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Dummer_Powell
  • Wiki Biography:
    • William Dummer Powell (November 5, 1755 – September 6, 1834) was a Loyalist lawyer, judge and political figure in Upper Canada.
    • As a Loyalist, Powell went to Quebec in 1779, entering private practice in Montreal. In 1783, he went to England to petition with other delegates against the Quebec Act. His formal call to the English bar, delayed because of finances, was finally arranged in 1784 and, later that year, he returned to Boston to attempt to recover his father’s property which had been confiscated after the American Revolution. Unsuccessful, he returned to Montreal in 1785.
    • In 1789, he was appointed judge in the Western District. He lived in Detroit but the court sat at L’Assomption (Windsor). In 1794, he was appointed to the Court of King’s Bench for Upper Canada and moved to Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake). In 1808, he was appointed to the Executive Council for the province. He settled at York (Toronto) and remained there during the American occupation during the War of 1812. He opposed the suspension of habeas corpus during the war. In 1814, he assisted Chief Justice Thomas Scott by presiding over several of the trials known as the “Bloody Assize” which were held at Ancaster to prosecute those charged with treason during the war.
    • When Chief Justice Thomas Scott was no longer able to chair the Executive Council in 1816, Powell took on that post, and also replaced him as Chief Justice later that same year.
    • He upset the province’s administration by rejecting many of the charges brought by Lord Selkirk against those who had stirred up trouble for the Red River Colony. In 1823, he refused to swear in Alexander Wood as a commissioner for war claims arising from the War of 1812; Powell had originally opposed his appointment on moral grounds. Wood successfully sued him for damages. Although he opposed prosecuting Robert Fleming Gourlay for attacks on the administration of the province, he found himself forced to banish Gourlay from the province for sedition. In 1825, after he was rebuked by the Executive Council for exposing the administration to criticism, he resigned from that council; he was succeeded by William Campbell as Chief Justice later that year. He died in Toronto in 1834.
  • United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=6737
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8392616/william-dummer-powell