The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)Dent, John Charles
History
The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4)
Dent, John Charles
Canada -- Biography
In October, 1847, when he had been at the Bar somewhat more than two
years, he married Miss Frances Louisa Perkins, youngest daughter of the
late Mr. James W. Perkins, who had formerly held a position in the Royal
Navy. By this lady he has a family of nine children. In 1855 he became a
Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada, and in 1858 he was appointed
a Queen's Counsel, simultaneously with the Hon. Stephen Richards. He
from time to time formed various partnerships, one of which was with the
late Hon. John Ross. Another was subsequently formed with the late Hon.
John Crawford, who some years later became Lieutenant-Governor of
Ontario.
While at the Bar, in addition to a very extensive and profitable civil
practice, he took a front rank as a criminal lawyer, for which
distinction his past experience in the office of Attorney-General Draper
had eminently fitted him. He was engaged in the celebrated case of
_Regina_ vs. _Brogden_, which many readers of these pages will not fail
to remember. The prisoner was a well-known lawyer of Port Hope, who was
tried at Cobourg for shooting one Anderson, the seducer of his wife. A
year or two later he represented the Crown in another historical
criminal case which was tried at Cobourg, wherein the prisoner, Dr.
King, was convicted of poisoning his wife. In 1863 he appeared for the
Crown at Toronto against that well-remembered malefactor William
Greenwood. There were three indictments against the prisoner, two for
murder and one for arson. On the first indictment for murder the
prisoner was acquitted. On that for arson, which was prosecuted by Mr.
Galt, he was convicted. With the other indictment for murder Mr. Galt
was not concerned. The prisoner, however, was convicted, and sentenced
to be hanged, but committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell.
Mr. Galt was appointed to his present position, that of a Puisné Judge
of the Court of Common Pleas for Ontario, on the death of the late Judge
John Wilson, in 1869. His sixty-five years seem to sit very lightly upon
him, and he is still distinguished by a fine, dignified, and most kindly
presence. In addition to the attainments properly belonging to him as an
eminent lawyer, he is known as a master of style, and his judgments are
marked not less by their depth of learning than by the stateliness of
the diction in which they are written.
The most important criminal case over which he has been called upon to
preside since his accession to the Bench was that against Mrs. George
Campbell, who was tried at the assizes held at London, in the autumn of
1872, for murdering her husband under most revolting circumstances. She
was convicted, and suffered the extreme penalty of the law.
THE RIGHT REV. WILLIAM BENNETT BOND,
_M.A., LL.D., BISHOP OF MONTREAL._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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