M.P. for City of Ottawa, was born at London,
Ontario, in 1843. He is a son of Captain William Mackintosh, of Wicklow,
Ireland, who came to Canada as an attaché of the Ordnance Branch of the
British army. He was subsequently county engineer of Middlesex, Ontario.
It may be said that our subject is related to the celebrated Sir James
Mackintosh, the essayist and historian. Mr. C. Mackintosh received his
education at the Galt Grammar school and at the Academy of Caradoc. Having
completed his education, young Mackintosh began a study of the law, but he
never took sympathetically to this calling. He always had a strong
inclination for literary pursuits; and his boyish brilliancy was the
subject of much comment and admiration. When he was seventeen years old he
wrote "Welcome to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales" and this
contribution was deservedly popular. It was presented during the visit of
His Royal Highness to Upper Canada. Two years later he wrote
"Hurry-Graphs", which appeared in the London Free Press under
the pen name of "Fat Contributor". At this period Mr. Mackintosh
wrote with an extremely facile and sparkling pen, and his work, whether
signed or under nom de plume, attracted comment and commendation. After a
little he became city editor of the Free Press, and gave up studying law.
In 1864 he became chief editor of the Hamilton Times, and the year
following began the publication of the Strathroy Dispatch. This paper he
continued to publish until 1874, when he sold it out. In 1871 he wrote
"The Chicago Fire", which had a large sale; and in 1873 he
produced "The Financial Panic in the United States and its
Causes". In 1873 Mr. Mackintosh was managing editor of the Chicago
Journal of Commerce, having taken that position in order to study the
question of protection. The following year he took up his abode in Ottawa,
and became editor of the Ottawa Daily Citizen. From 1877 to 1882 he edited
the "Parliamentary Companion". During the fall of 1882 he
visited England, where some months were spent in forwarding the interests
of the railway enterprises in which he is interested; but Mr. Mackintosh
never permitted his time or vitality to be absorbed by one undertaking.
Being of unusual mental altertness, he is careful to keep diverse irons in
the fire at once. During the years 1876 and 1877 he published speeches,
etc., on the question of protection, which at this time was engrossing
public attention. In 1875 he was awarded the gold and silver medal for a
prose poem at the Cornwall Centennial. Looking backward a little we find
him in 1871 founding the Parkhill Gazette; and two years later he is
sitting in the Town Council of Strathroy. In 1879 he resolved that he
would capture the civic honours of Ottawa. He did not deceive himself. He
was elected mayor, and re-elected for the two succeeding years. In 1881 he
was unseated on a technicality, but elected again. In 1879 he was chairman
of the Dominion Exhibition, and in 1881 president of the Agricultural
Assocation. He is at present president of the Ottawa Colonization Railway
and Ottawa and Gatineau Valley Railway and of the Citizen Printing and
Publishing Company. In 1871 he sought election to the Legislative Assembly
of Ontario, for North Middlesex, but was unsuccessful. At the last General
Election (1882) he was chosen as the parliamentary representative for the
City of Ottawa, his colleague being Mr. Tassé. Mr. Mackintosh married on
April 7th, 1868, Miss Gertrude, daughter of T. Cooke, Esq., J.P., of
Strathrory. Our subject, it may be said, without claiming for him the
empty title that so many a man cheaply gets, is emphatically what he is
styled, "The Workingman's Champion". He is popular, however,
with every section of the community, and his popularity is derived from
his affable, hearty and genial manner, and the genuine zeal that he brings
into the cause which he advocates. He is a sound Conservative, and
everybody knows that Mr. Mackintosh has opinions of his own, and that he
has both the courage and the ability to express them. |