[Illustration: HON. P. E. BLONDIN Ottawa]
=McCorkill, The Hon. Justice John Charles= (Quebec City), was born in the town of Farnham, P.Q., on August 31, 1854. His father was Mr. Robert McCorkill, of Farnham and the Eastern Townships. His mother’s maiden name was Miss Margaret Meighen. His wife is a daughter of the Hon. Senator Leonard of London, Ontario, their marriage having taken place in 1884. From the district elementary school, he entered the classes of the McGill Model School, and in time obtained a certificate to teach from the McGill Normal School. For a period he acted as Principal of the Montreal British and Canadian School, thereafter taking his degree of B.C.L. as a preliminary step to his becoming a lawyer. At first he became a partner in the Greenshields legal firm, but subsequently removed to the Bedford District and finally opened a central office at Cowansville. While rising to a high rank as an advocate, he was encouraged to enter the political field, and after suffering defeat twice in succession, was at length elected to the Legislative Assembly as the representative of Missisquoi. In time he was appointed Legislative Councillor for the District of Bedford, where he was so appreciatively known as a public-spirited citizen and an able lawyer, who had held the position of Batonnier of the Bar and other offices of rank. In 1903, he resigned his seat in the upper chamber of the Provincial Parliament, to become Provincial Treasurer in the Parent Administration, and was elected to the Legislature by the Constituency of Brome. This office he held for three years, up to the time of his appointment as a Judge of the Supreme Court for the District of Quebec. While Treasurer, his term was marked by important legislation, such as the revision of the taxation laws relating to banking institutions and succession duties, which resulted in a surplus for the province of half-a-million dollars. After the date of his appointment to the Bench, he was made a Joint Commissioner with the Hon. Mr. Mathieu and Mr. L. J. Gauthier, to revise the Municipal Code of the Province of Quebec. His record as a legal practitioner and advocate, as well as a financier and public-spirited citizen, has been a full one, wherever he has resided, in Montreal, in the Eastern Townships, or in the city of Quebec. For several years he was Mayor of Cowansville, where he was also President of the Missisquoi Historical Society. He has been President of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, and is a member of the Council of Public Instruction. Even in military affairs he has taken an active part, having been Captain as well as Major in the Militia between the years of 1879 and 1887. His literary tastes have expressed themselves in the historical papers he has written from time to time. Altogether the Hon. Justice McCorkill may truly be spoken of as possessing a forceful and clear-visioned personality, able and willing always to share in the civic and provincial advancement of the community in which he lives or has lived.