Edward Blake

Edward Blake (1833-1912), Canadian statesman, born in Middlesex County, Ontario, and educated at Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto. As a member of the Liberal party he served from 1867 to 1872 in both the Ontario legislature and the Canadian House of Commons. He was premier of Ontario from 1871 to 1872, when a new law made it mandatory that he give up either his provincial offices or his seat in the House of Commons. Blake retained his House membership for the next two decades and was a minister in the government of Alexander Mackenzie, whom he succeeded as leader of the Liberal party of Canada in 1880. In 1891 he went to Ireland where, in 1892, he was elected to the British House of Commons as an Irish Nationalist. He remained a member of the British Parliament until 1907, when he retired to Canada.