Henry Grattan Nolan

Who was Henry Grattan Nolan?

Henry Grattan Nolan, CBE MC was a Canadian lawyer and jurist. He was the first Albertan appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Nolan was born in Calgary, Northwest Territories, the son of Patrick James "Paddy" Nolan, a criminal defence lawyer, and Mary Elizabeth Lee. According to his friend, Ronald Martland, who succeeded him on the Supreme Court, Nolan did not have a good relationship with his father, possibly because of his father's struggles with alcohol. Martland said that Nolan “very seldom ever spoke of his father”, who had not treated Nolan's mother well. Nolan was determined not to follow the path set by his father. Nolan's wife stated that Nolan's father had not had any sort of relationship with Nolan, and had not even answered Nolan's schoolboy letters.

Nolan received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Alberta in 1914 and was awarded a Rhodes scholarship for Alberta in 1915. However, he enlisted in the army during World War I and received a Military Cross in 1918 for his service. He was wounded at Cambrai, in France.

After the war, he received a second Bachelor of Arts in 1921 from University College, Oxford.