William Bullock Ives

For other people named William Ives, see William Ives (disambiguation).

The Hon. William Ives PC, QC
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Richmond—Wolfe
In office 1878–1891
Preceded by	Henry Aylmer
Succeeded by	Clarence Chester Cleveland
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Sherbrooke
In office 1891–1899
Preceded by	Robert Newton Hall
Succeeded by	John McIntosh
Personal details
Born	William Bullock Ives November 17, 1841(1841-11-17) Compton Township, Lower Canada
Died	July 15, 1899(1899-07-15) (aged 57) Ottawa, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Emma Pope
Occupation	Businessman, lawyer

William Bullock Ives, PC, QC (17 November 1841 – 15 July 1899) was a Canadian politician. He was the President of the Privy Council and Minister of Trade and Commerce.

Early life

William Bullock Ives was born to Eli Ives and Artemissa Bullock, two loyalists from Connecticut. After studying at the village school in Compton, he attended the Compton Academy for four years, and then he continued his education on his own before undertaking the study of law at Sherbrooke. He was called to the bar on June 18, 1867 and practised his profession mainly in Sherbrooke, in the office of Henry Billings Brown among others. In 1880 he was named a QC.

On November 20, 1869, Ives married Elizabeth Emma Pope, the only daughter of John Henry Pope. They would have no children.

Political career

Ives's political initiation came at the municipal level in January 1875, when he was elected councillor for the East Ward of Sherbrooke, a post he retained for four years. Chosen mayor for 1878, he was elected that year for the constituency of Richmond—Wolfe to the House of Commons. He continued to represent this riding until 1891, being re-elected in 1882 and 1887. From 1891 he ran in Sherbrooke, where he was successful in the elections of 1891 and 1896, as well as in a by-election in 1892.

Ives, an ardent Conservative, was respected for the competence in matters of business law and foreign trade that he brought to the house. His first speech, favouring a protective tariff on manufactured goods, showed a sound knowledge of economic factors as well as a firm commitment to his party's National Policy. He unwaveringly supported government assistance for the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It was no doubt to these qualities that he owed his elevation to the Privy Council and his appointment as its president on December 7, 1892. On December 21, 1894 he became minister of trade and commerce under Mackenzie Bowell. He and six other Protestants in the cabinet resigned on January 4, 1896 in an attempt to force the hand of Bowell, who in turn resigned. When Sir Charles Tupper assumed office as prime minister, Ives was reappointed within days. He remained in office until the ministry was defeated in July.

Business career

In addition to his career in politics, Ives rose to prominence in the business world. In 1882 Ives and three partners bought a sawmill at Cookshire and founded the Cookshire Mill Company. Ives and his brother-in-law Rufus Henry Pope quickly became its sole shareholders. Not long after, Ives founded the Scotstown Lumber Company, of which he became president. Its main sawmill, in Scotstown, processed timber from the region of Mont Mégantic. He thereby gained control of most of the lumber in the eastern part of the Eastern Townships.

He soon developed an interest in pulpwood, which his two companies began exporting to the United States. In 1884, with the backing of partners in the region and at Montreal, Ives set up a pulp factory in Scotstown and in 1891 he bought the factory in East Angus. He was also made president of the Royal Pulp and Paper Company, which installed a paper mill in that town. In 1893, with a restructuring of the firm, renamed Royal Paper Mills Company, Ives was reduced to a minority shareholder. Following the defeat of the Conservative government in 1897, he became manager of the East Angus plants and helped set up a new bisulphite pulp plant.

In 1887 he promoted the construction of the Hereford Railway to link northern New Hampshire and Cookshire. He became the guiding light of the project and managed to interest a syndicate of American businessmen in it. The line, built within two years, was leased in 1890 to the Maine Central Railway. Ives stayed on as a director of the Hereford Railway, which he used to export lumber and pulp as well as lime and cement. With his American partners he in fact extended it from Cookshire to Lime Ridge, where the lime kilns of the Dominion Lime Company, of which he was vice-president, were located.

Later life

Around 1895 he became involved in mining development around Rossland, British Columbia. He was on his way back from a tour there, travelling on the CPR, when he suffered a paralytic attack which was to prove fatal. His body was brought from Ottawa to Sherbrooke, where he was buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

References

• Kesteman, Jean-Pierre (1990). "William Bullock Ives". Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. XII. ISBN 0-8020-3460-8. http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=6181. 
• "William Bullock Ives". Library of Parliament. http://www2.parl.gc.ca/parlinfo/Files/Parliamentarian.aspx?Item=9864058f-4f50-4c03-b279-8394f6e1af29&Language=E.