Samuel Henry Strong

Who was Samuel Henry Strong?

Sir Samuel Henry Strong, PC, QC was a lawyer and the third Chief Justice of Canada.

Strong was born in Poole, England to Samuel Spratt Strong and Jane Elizabeth Goose. He emigrated to Upper Canada with his family in 1836 settling in Bytown. He studied law in the office of local Ottawa lawyer Augustus Keefer. He was called to the bar in 1849 and established his practice in Toronto. He was elected a bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1860 and was made a QC in 1863.

Following Confederation he advised Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald on the establishment of the Supreme Court of Canada. He was named to the new court when it was created in 1875. He became Chief Justice in 1892 serving until his retirement in 1902, by which time he was the last of the original justices remaining. He died in 1909 at the age of 84.