William Folger Nickle

Last updated

Agnes Mary McAdam
​
​
(m. 1885⁠–⁠1910)​
Katherine Louise Gorden
​
​
(m. 1911)​
William Folger Nickle, KC
William Folger Nickle.png
Member of Parliament
for Kingston
In office
1911–1919
Relations William McAdam Nickle, son
Children William McAdam Nickle
OccupationLawyer

William Folger Nickle KC (December 31, 1869 - November 15, 1957) was a Canadian politician who served both as a member of the House of Commons of Canada and in the Ontario legislature where he rose to the position of Attorney-General of Ontario. He is best known for the Nickle Resolution that ended the practice of knighthoods and peerages being awarded to Canadians.

Born in Kingston, Ontario, the son of William Nickle, Nickle was educated at Queen's University and Osgoode Hall. He was called to the Ontario bar in 1896 and set up a law practice in Kingston. He entered local politics and was elected to the school board 1904 and then served on Kingston city council from 1905 until 1908.

He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1908 provincial election as a Conservative and served for three years until his election to the federal House of Commons in the 1911 federal election, as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston. He was re-elected in the 1917 federal election as a Unionist.

Nickle was appointed to chair a special committee of the House of Commons to examine the question of the appointment of honours. There had been criticism in the press about a surfeit of knighthoods being created during World War I. In 1919, Nickle moved and had passed through the House a resolution calling for an end to the practice of Canadians being granted knighthoods and peerages. Nickle's detractors charged that he was bitter at having failed to get a knighthood for his father-in-law.

Later that year, he resigned his federal seat contending that the wartime Union Government should also resign and seek a post-war mandate to govern. Nickle returned to provincial politics and won a seat in the Ontario legislature in a 1922 by-election.

The Conservatives formed government following the 1923 provincial election. The new Premier of Ontario, George Howard Ferguson, appointed Nickle to cabinet as Attorney-General of Ontario. Nickle resigned from Cabinet in October 1926 when Premier Ferguson announced his plan to repeal the Ontario Temperance Act and allow liquor sales. He ran as an Independent on a prohibition platform in the subsequent 1926 provincial election but was defeated in the riding of Kingston and Portsmouth by the Conservative candidate, Thomas Kidd.

He married Agnes Mary McAdam in 1885 and married Katherine Louise Gorden in 1911 after the death of his first wife. Nickle served on the city council for Kingston, also serving as a member of the school board, and was a trustee for Queen's University and a member of the board of governors for Kingston Hospital.

William McAdam Nickle, a son from his first marriage, went on to serve in the Ontario cabinet.

Related Research Articles

Elinor Caplan is a businesswoman and former politician in Ontario, Canada. She served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1985 to 1997, and was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada from 1997 to 2004. A Liberal, she served as a cabinet minister in the provincial government of David Peterson and the federal government of Jean Chrétien.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Ferguson</span> Canadian politician (1870–1946)

George Howard Ferguson was the ninth premier of Ontario, from 1923 to 1930. He was a Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1905 to 1930 who represented the eastern provincial riding of Grenville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Crooks Cameron</span> Canadian politician (1822–1887)

Sir Matthew Crooks Cameron, was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1867 to 1878. He represented the riding of Toronto East. He served in the cabinet of the first Premier, John Sandfield Macdonald. After Macdonald's defeat in 1871, he became leader of the Conservative Party and served as Leader of the Opposition until his retirement from politics in 1878. After the legislature, he served as Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas until his death in 1887. In 1887 he was made a Knight Bachelor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Arnott</span> Canadian politician

Theodore Calvin Arnott is a Canadian politician who was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on September 6, 1990, representing the Riding of Wellington. He is a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and represents the Riding of Wellington—Halton Hills in the Ontario Legislature. Arnott has served as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario during the 42nd and 43rd Parliaments of Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Morris (politician)</span> Canadian politician (1826–1889)

Alexander Morris was a Canadian politician. He served in the cabinet of Prime Minister John A. Macdonald (1869–1872), and was the second Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (1872–1877). He also served as the founder and first Lieutenant Governor of the District of Keewatin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard John Cartwright</span> Canadian politician

Sir Richard John Cartwright was a Canadian businessman and politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allan Lawrence (politician)</span> Canadian politician

Allan Frederick Lawrence, was a Canadian politician and served as both a provincial and federal cabinet minister.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Gerretsen</span> Former Ontario politician

John Philip Gerretsen is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2014 who represented the eastern Ontario riding of Kingston and the Islands. He served as a Minister in the Cabinets of Premiers Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1926 Ontario general election</span>

The 1926 Ontario general election was the 17th general election held in the Province of Ontario, Canada. It was held on December 1, 1926, to elect the 112 Members of the 17th Legislative Assembly of Ontario ("MLAs").

Ewan Alexander McPherson was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the House of Commons of Canada from 1926 to 1930. He was also a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1914 to 1920 and from 1932 to 1936, and served as a cabinet minister in the government of John Bracken.

George Allison Grierson was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1914 to 1922, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Tobias Norris. Grierson was a member of the Liberal Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James A. Taylor</span> Canadian lawyer and politician (1928–2020)

James Allan Taylor was a lawyer and politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1971 to 1987 and was a cabinet minister in the government of Bill Davis. Taylor was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party.

Gordon Wayne Walker, is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1971 to 1975, and again from 1977 to 1985. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party, and served as a cabinet minister in the governments of William Davis and Frank Miller.

Russell Harold Ramsay was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1978 to 1985, and was a cabinet minister in the government of William Davis. Ramsay was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Kidd (Ontario politician)</span> Canadian politician (1889–1973)

Thomas Ashmore Kidd was speaker of the Legislature of Ontario in 1930–34 and served as Conservative MLA for Kingston from 1926 to 1940 and Progressive Conservative MP for Kingston City from 1945 to 1949.

The Canadian titles debate originated with the presentation to the House of Commons of Canada of the Nickle Resolution in 1917. This resolution marked the earliest attempt to establish a federal government policy requesting the sovereign, in the right of the United Kingdom, not to grant knighthoods, baronetcies, and peerages to Canadians and set the precedent for later policies restricting Canadians from accepting titles from foreign countries. Dissatisfaction with the British honours system led to the gradual creation of a separate system for Canada.

William McAdam Nickle was an Ontario political figure. He represented Kingston in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1951 to 1963 as a Progressive Conservative member.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Coteau</span> Canadian politician

Michael Joseph Coteau is a Canadian politician who serves as the Member of Parliament for Don Valley East in the House of Commons of Canada. From 2011 to 2021, he was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario representing the provincial district of Don Valley East in Toronto. He served in the Cabinet of Ontario under Premier Kathleen Wynne from 2013 to 2018 in several portfolios, including Citizenship and Immigration, Tourism, Culture and Sport and Community and Social Services. After the 2018 Ontario general election, Coteau was one of seven Liberals re-elected, and he subsequently ran in the 2020 Ontario Liberal Party leadership election, placing second with 16.9% of the vote.

Edward John Barker Pense was a newspaper editor and owner and a politician in Ontario, Canada. He represented Kingston in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1901 to 1908 as a Liberal. Pense was mayor of Kingston in 1881.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.