Adam Crooks (politician)

Adam Crooks, QC (December 11, 1827 – December 28, 1885) was an Ontario Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for Toronto West from 1871 to 1874 and moved to the riding of Oxford South from 1875 to 1886.

Adam Crooks
Adam Crooks, 1872[1]
Ontario MPP
In office
1875–1883
Preceded byAdam Oliver
Succeeded byGeorge Atwell Cooke
ConstituencyOxford South
In office
1871–1874
Preceded byJohn Wallis
Succeeded byRobert Bell
ConstituencyToronto West
Personal details
Born(1827-12-11)December 11, 1827
West Flamboro, Ontario
DiedDecember 28, 1885(1885-12-28) (aged 58)
Hartford, Connecticut
Political partyLiberal
OccupationLawyer

Background

Crooks was born in West Flamboro, Ontario, the son of James Crooks and Jane Cummings. He studied at Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto. During his time in Toronto, he studied law and was called to the bar in 1851. Crooks married Emily Ann C. Evans in 1857. Their child, Lawrence Ogden Crooks, was born in 1858.[2] During the early 1860s, Adam Crooks successfully appealed a lower court decision against the Commercial Bank of Canada before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in England. In 1863, he was named Queen's Counsel. Near the end of his life, he suffered from problems with his physical and mental health and was forced to retire from public life. He died in Hartford, Connecticut.

Politics

He served as Attorney General from 1871 to 1872 and provincial treasurer from 1872 to 1877. Crooks played a major role in developing the 1876 liquor licence act, also known as the Crooks Act, which attempted to control the sale of alcohol within the province. He also served as the first Minister of Education in Ontario, appointed in 1876, after the retirement of Rev. Dr. Egerton Ryerson, who was Chief Superintendent.[3]

References
  1. Adam Crook, Library and Archives Canada, 1872
  2. Wheeler, William Ogden (1907). The Ogden family in America, Elizabethtown branch and their English ancestry : John Ogden, the Pilgrim, and his descendants, 1640-1906 ... Printed ... by J.B. Lippincott Co. OCLC 191114217.
  3. "Adam Crooks". Archives of Ontario. December 18, 2010. Archived from the original on December 18, 2010.
Preceded by
Edmund Burke Wood		 Treasurer of Ontario
1872–1877		 Succeeded by
Samuel Wood
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