A very important date today on the parliamentary history calendar.  It was, of course, on this date in 1819 that the very first Speaker of the post-Confederation House of Commons, was born.  James Cockburn, destined to serve as Speaker from 1867 until 1874, was born in England and immigrated to what is now Canada when he was 13-years-old. His political career started on town council in Cobourg, Ontario; he was elected in 1861 to the legislature of the United Province of Canada.  Above all else, he was no fan of John A. Macdonald.  And it seems the feelings of animosity went both ways. According to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography (yes, one of my favourite reference tools) Macdonald described Cockburn as ““a Tory of the old school. In fact, you might say he belonged to the old fossil party – a Tory of the old Family Compact . . . .” Two-years later, however, in 1863, Cockburn saw the error of his ways and became one of Sir John A.’s supporters. This support was rewarded when Macdonald appointed Cockburn the first-ever Speaker in the fall of 1867.  Though he was returned to the post a second time he was never fully respected by members of the Liberal opposition as he could not speak French. After his defeat in 1874 Cockburn found himself destitute.  Though he was sent back to the Commons in 1878 when the Macdonald Tories were returned to power, he was not appointed Speaker again.  And, his health failed at the same time.  He died in 1883 and is buried in Toronto, mostly forgotten. Sadly, James Cockburn is not the only Speaker of the House in Canadian history to die penniless.  Such was also the fate of Mr. Speaker Louis-René Beaudoin, whose failure to demonstrate impartiality during the infamous Pipeline Debate in the 1950s ruined his life and reputation.  He worked odd jobs the rest of life, eventually securing employment as a bartender in Arizona.  Eventually, Beaudoin drifted back to Montreal and died, forgotten, in the backseat of a Montreal taxi – from a heart attack – in 1970.  He was only 57. caption id="attachment_540046" align="aligncenter" width="403" James Cockburn, Speaker of the House of Commons/caption Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist.  He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy.  A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.