Sedley Blanchard (1849-1886)

Lawyer.

Born at Truro, Nova Scotia on 1 February 1849, son of J. F. Blanchard, he was educated at Dalhousie College [later Dalhousie University] in Halifax and was called to the Nova Scotia Bar in 1871. He came to Manitoba later that year to become private secretary to Lieutenant-Governor Adams Archibald and clerk of the executive council. In 1873 he formed a private law practice in partnership with John Farquhar Bain and W. R. Mulock. He served a single term on the Winnipeg City Council, in 1879. During the Winnipeg boom of 1881-82, he invested (and lost) heavily in real estate. He was appointed Queen’s Council in 1884. He served as a Bencher for the Law Society of Manitoba from 1877 to 1886.

On 1 August 1876, he married Jane Bell Clarke, daughter of HBC employee Lawrence Clarke. They had four children, including Jessie Bell Blanchard (b 1877) and Sedley Blanchard Jr. (b 1878).

He died in Winnipeg on 7 March 1886, from the effects of typhoid fever. He was buried in St. John’s Cemetery. He is commemorated by the town of Sedley, Saskatchewan.

Sources:

1881 Canada census, FamilySearch.

Birth registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“Sedley Blanchard, Q.C.” Manitoba Free Press, 8 March 1886, page 2.

“The Last Sad Rites” Manitoba Free Press, 10 March 1886, page 4.

“Wm. R. Mulock, K.C., dies, aged 80 years”, Manitoba Free Press, 21 January 1930. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B8]

Profile revised: 16 December 2009

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