William Simmons (politician) explained

William Charles Simmons
Office1:Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Lethbridge
Term Start1:April 12, 1906
Term End1:September 28, 1908
Predecessor1:Leverett DeVeber
Successor1:Donald McNabb
Office2:Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alberta
Term Start2:August 27, 1924
Term End2:September 1, 1936
Office3:Supreme Court of Alberta
Term Start3:October 12, 1910
Term End3:September 1, 1936
Birth Date:28 February 1865
Birth Place:Tara, Canada West
Death Place:Victoria, British Columbia
Party:Liberal
Alma Mater:University of Toronto
Occupation:lawyer, politician, judge

William Charles Simmons (February 28, 1865 – August 24, 1956) was a Canadian politician and judge from Alberta.

Early life

William Charles Simmons was born on February 28, 1865, in the farming community of Tara, Canada West, to William Simmons and Jane Wilson.[1] Simmons attended the University of Toronto and completed a Bachelor of Arts in 1895.[1] Simmons married Mary W. Wilson on August 7, 1899, and moved west to Alberta to become a principal in Lethbridge.[1] Simmons resigned from teaching to article with R. B. Bennett in Calgary and passed the bar in the North-West Territories on August 12, 1900. Simmons was employed as a Crown prosecutor in Lethbridge from 1903 to 1904.[1]

Political life

Simmons was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1906 to 1908 for the Alberta Liberal Party. He was elected in a by-election after Leverett DeVeber was appointed to the Senate of Canada. He resigned in 1908 to run for the House of Commons of Canada for Medicine Hat. He was defeated by the former Northwest Territories MLA Charles Alexander Magrath.[2]

Alberta Supreme Court

Simmons was appointed to the Supreme Court of Alberta on October 12, 1910, and was appointed the Chief Justice on August 27, 1924.[3] [4]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Chambers . Ernest J. . Ernest J. Chambers . The Canadian Parliamentary Guide . 1908 . Mortimer Company Ltd. . Ottawa . August 9, 2020 . 0315-6168 . 266967058 . 458.
  2. Who's Who and Why--- A Biographical Dictionary of Men and Women of Western Canada Especially compiled for Newspaper and Library reference, volume 3 1?13, pages 747-748
  3. Book: Knafla . Louis A. . Klumpenhouwer . Richard . Lords of the Western Bench: A Biographical History of the Supreme and District Courts of Alberta, 1876-1990 . 1997 . Legal Archives Society of Alberta . Calgary . 978-0-9681939-0-7 . registration . 167–168.
  4. Book: Middelstadt . David . People principles progress : the Alberta Court of Appeal’s first century, 1914-2014 . 2014 . The Legal Archives Society of Alberta . Calgary . 978-0-9681939-5-2 . 43 .