Hugh Cayley

Hugh S. Cayley
Chairman of the Executive Committee
In office
August 1, 1892 – October 31, 1892
MonarchVictoria
Lieutenant GovernorJoseph Royal
Preceded byFrederick W. A. G. Haultain
Succeeded byFrederick W. A. G. Haultain
MLA for Calgary
In office
July 14, 1886 – October 31, 1894
Preceded byJames Davidson Geddes
Succeeded bydistrict abolished
Personal details
Born(1857-11-19)November 19, 1857
Toronto, Canada West
DiedApril 13, 1934(1934-04-13) (aged 76)
Vancouver, British Columbia
Political partyIndependent
Spouse
Leonora Adelaide Cochrane
(m. 1897)
Alma materUniversity of Toronto
Occupationlawyer, news reporter

Hugh St. Quentin Cayley (November 19, 1857 – April 13, 1934)[1] was a Canadian lawyer, news reporter and politician.

Early life

Hugh St. Quentin Cayley was born on November 19, 1857, in Toronto.[2] He was raised in Upper Canada and one of eleven children fathered by William Cayley. William Cayley was a lawyer and member of the Legislative Assembly of Canada.

Cayley studied law at the University of Toronto. After he graduated he worked for the law firm of Black, Kerr, Las and Cassels. Cayley later moved to New York City and became a news reporter.[3]

Cayley married his wife Leonora Adelaide Cochrane on September 6, 1897.[2]

They had one son, Beverley Cochrane Cayley, who was born October 25, 1898[4] and died from tuberculosis in June, 1928.[5]

News career

Cayley's first job as a news reporter was at the New York Herald-Tribune. He later moved west settling in Calgary, Northwest Territories in 1884. He joined the staff at the Calgary Herald which was founded a year earlier. He quickly rose to be a partner in ownership of the Herald.[3]

The biggest story of his career was the Travis Affair. In the fall of 1885 Stipendiary Magistrate Jeremiah Travis was sent by the federal government to enforce prohibition in Calgary.[6] Travis took on the popular municipal council, and sentenced Alderman Simon J. Clarke to hard six months hard labour. Cayley, both clerk of the district court as well as editor of the Calgary Herald, wrote an unfavourable editorial on the magistrate.[7] Travis accused Cayley of showing up at court drunk, dismissed him as clerk, charged him with contempt, and sentenced him to prison.[8]

The height of Cayley's career at the Herald was serving as Publisher. He served that role from February 1885 to January 2, 1887.[9]

He left the Herald selling off his interests in the newspaper when he ran for election in 1886.[3]

Northwest Territories Legislature

Cayley was elected to the Northwest Territories Legislature in a by-election held on July 14, 1886. The election was held to elect two members from the Calgary electoral district. Cayley won the second seat with 28.5% of the popular vote. John D. Lauder finished first winning 33.6% of the popular vote in the four man field of candidates.[10]

He was re-elected to a second term in the first Northwest Territories general election held in 1888. He won second place out of three with 34% of the vote. Cayley was acclaimed to his third term in the 1891 Northwest Territories general election.[10]

Late life

After leaving politics, the mid-1890s saw Cayley resume his career as a lawyer, taking him to British Columbia where he practiced in Golden, Vernon, Grand Forks and Revelstoke, before arriving in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1905. In mid-1917 he was appointed as Judge of County Court, spending just over 15 years in that position, retiring in early 1933.[3] The town of Cayley, Alberta is named in his honor. He died on April 13, 1934.

References

  1. ^ [1] Archived 2010-11-24 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b Barry Christopher Noonan. "Descendants of Edward III". Retrieved 2007-12-07.
  3. ^ a b c d "The Travis Case - Hugh Cayley biography". Alberta Law Archives. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
  4. ^ Canada, Library and Archives (2013-01-07). "Search Results: Census of Canada, 1901". www.bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  5. ^ Archives, North Vancouver Museum and (February 2010). "Video Transcript Cayley's Chronicle - Inspiration – Passion – Climbing to the Clouds". nvma.ca. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  6. ^ "The Travis Case". Alberta Law Archives. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
  7. ^ "Biography – TRAVIS, JEREMIAH – Volume XIV (1911-1920) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography". www.biographi.ca. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  8. ^ Mittelstadt, David (2005-08-20). Foundations of Justice: Alberta's Historic Courthouses. University of Calgary Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv6cfrf0. ISBN 978-1-55238-345-2.
  9. ^ Strathern, Gloria M. (1988). Alberta Newspapers, 1880-1982: An Historical Directory. University of Alberta. pp. 28. ISBN 0-88864-137-0.
  10. ^ a b "North-West Territories: Council and Legislative Assembly, 1876-1905" (PDF). Saskatchewan Archives. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-09-30.
Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories
Preceded by MLA Calgary
1886-1894
Succeeded by
District Abolished
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