Alpheus Todd was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

-born Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 librarian and constitutional historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

, most notable for his publications on parliament

Parliament

A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...

ary government

Government

Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

.

Life

Todd was born in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, the son of an author, Henry Cooke Todd. His family emigrated to York, Upper Canada

York, Upper Canada

York was the name of Old Toronto between 1793 and 1834. It was the second capital of Upper Canada.- History :The town was established in 1793 by Governor John Graves Simcoe, with a new 'Fort York' on the site of the last French 'Fort Toronto'...

 in 1833. The following year, York was incorporated as the city of Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

; Todd, though young, produced an Engraved Plan of the City of Toronto, which brought him to the attention of the prominent lawyer, Robert Baldwin Sullivan

Robert Baldwin Sullivan

Robert Baldwin Sullivan, QC , was a Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician who became the 2nd Mayor of Toronto....

. In 1835, Sullivan helped Todd obtain employment in the library of the House of Assembly

House of Assembly

House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level....

 of Upper Canada; in 1836 he became assistant librarian.

Drawing on his experience in the House of Assembly's library and a keen interest in British parliamentary practice and its application in Canada and other British colonies, Todd published The Practice and Privileges of the Two Houses of Parliament in 1840. When, in 1841, Upper and Lower Canada were merged

Act of Union 1840

The Act of Union, formally the The British North America Act, 1840 , was enacted in July 1840 and proclaimed 10 February 1841. It abolished the legislatures of Lower Canada and Upper Canada and established a new political entity, the Province of Canada to replace them...

, Todd was appointed assistant librarian to the Legislative Assembly of the united province, which adopted his Practice and Privileges as an official guide for members.

On 31 March 1856 Todd became chief librarian of the Assembly. Upon confederation

Canadian Confederation

Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...

 in 1867, he was appointed librarian to the Dominion Parliament, a position he would hold until his death. Beginning in 1867, he wrote and published his most important work, On Parliamentary Government in England, an epic two-volume treatise on the British constitution and its conventions, including an examination of parliamentary privilege, and a defence of executive authority and the Royal Prerogative

Royal Prerogative

The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the sovereign alone. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government, possessed by and...

. The work was widely acclaimed in Britain and across the Empire

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

, establishing its author as an authority on constitutional matters. The book ran to several editions, and was soon translated into French, German, Spanish, and Italian.

In 1881 Todd was created a companion of the Order of St Michael and St George

Order of St Michael and St George

The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....

 (CMG) on the recommendation of the Marquess of Lorne

John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll

John George Edward Henry Douglas Sutherland Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll KG, KT, GCMG, GCVO, VD, PC , usually better known by the courtesy title Marquess of Lorne, by which he was known between 1847 and 1900, was a British nobleman and was the fourth Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883...

, and was awarded an honorary LLD by Queen's College, Kingston

Queen's University

Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...

. He was a founding member of the Royal Society of Canada

Royal Society of Canada

The Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...

in 1882.

Todd died suddenly at Ottawa on 22 January 1884.

Family

Todd married Sarah Anne St John in 1845. Together, they had one daughter and four sons, one of whom, Arthur Hamlyn Todd, published second editions of his father's two works on Parliamentary Government, and left an unpublished life of him.

Selected works

• The Practice and Privileges of the Two Houses of Parliament (1840)
• Brief Suggestions in Regard to the Formation of Local Governments for Upper and Lower Canada, in Connection with a Federal Union of the British North American Provinces (1866)
• On Parliamentary Government in England (1867-9)
• On Parliamentary Government in the British Colonies (1880)