Harold Aberdeen Watson Timmins (April 14, 1896 – July 29, 1966) was a Canadian politician and jurist.

Timmins was born in Alliston, Ontario

Alliston, Ontario

Alliston is a settlement in Simcoe County in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is part of the Town of New Tecumseth since the 1991 amalgamation of Alliston and nearby villages of Beeton, Tottenham, and the Township of Tecumseth...

, the son of James S. Timmins and Charlotte Amelia Watson, and raised in the 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...

 neighbourhood of Parkdale where he attended Parkdale Collegiate Institute before studying at the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

 and Osgoode Hall Law School

Osgoode Hall Law School

Osgoode Hall Law School is a Canadian law school, located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and affiliated with York University. Named after the first Chief Justice of Ontario, William Osgoode, the law school was established by The Law Society of Upper Canada in 1889 and was the only accredited law...

. He was called to the Ontario bar in 1920. Timmins was named a King's Counsel in 1942.

He served with the Canadian Army as a gunner during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and was wounded at the Battle of Arras

Battle of Arras (1917)

The Battle of Arras was a British offensive during the First World War. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British, Canadian, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and Australian troops attacked German trenches near the French city of Arras on the Western Front....

.

A lawyer by profession who also lectured at Osgoode Hall Law School on contract law and liens, Timmins was a popular alderman

Alderman

An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...

 on Toronto City Council

Toronto City Council

The Toronto City Council is the governing body of the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Members represent wards throughout the city, and are known as councillors....

 representing Parkdale's Ward Six from 1944 until 1946 when he ran in a federal by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

 in Parkdale

Parkdale (electoral district)

Parkdale was a Canadian federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1917 to 1979. It included the community of Parkdale in the western part of Toronto...

. He was elected as a Progressive Conservative

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

 MP and sat in the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 until his defeat in the 1949 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1949

The Canadian federal election of 1949 was held on June 27 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 21st Parliament of Canada. It was the first election in Canada in almost thirty years in which the Liberal Party of Canada was not led by William Lyon Mackenzie King. King had...

 by John Hunter

John Hunter (Canadian politician)

John William Gordon Hunter was a Liberal party member of the Canadian House of Commons.Hunter studied at the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School to become a barrister and lawyer....

 of the Liberals

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 in what was considered an upset victory as Parkdale had been a safe Tory seat since its creation in the 1917 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1917

The 1917 Canadian federal election was held on December 17, 1917, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 13th Parliament of Canada. Described by historian Michael Bliss as the "most bitter election in Canadian history", it was fought mainly over the issue of conscription...

.

During his time in the House of Commons, Timmins was an advocate for building housing for veteran

Veteran

A veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..."...

's and for the creation of a national health plan

Medicare (Canada)

Medicare is the unofficial name for Canada's publicly funded universal health insurance system. The formal terminology for the insurance system is provided by the Canada Health Act and the health insurance legislation of the individual provinces and territories.Under the terms of the Canada Health...

.

In 1958, Timmins was appointed as a judge on the County Court of York. Prior to that he'd been a magistrate

Magistrate

A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...

-at-large in Ontario and an official arbitrator for Toronto for three years.

External links