Hughes Cleaver

Ellis Hughes Cleaver Jr. (12 September 1892 – 31 October 1980) was a Liberal party member of the House of Commons of Canada. He was born in Burlington, Ontario and became a lawyer by career.

Hughes Cleaver
Hughes Cleaver on his reelection in 1945
Member of Parliament for Halton
In office October 1935 – June 1953
Preceded by	Robert King Anderson
Succeeded by	Sybil Bennett
Personal details
Born	(1892-09-12)12 September 1892 Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Died	31 October 1980(1980-10-31) (aged 88) Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Ariel Annie Shapland ​ ( m. 1916; died 1975) [1][2][3] Beatrice[4]
Profession	lawyer

Biography

He was called to the bar in 1914[5] and later elected as Reeve of Burlington in 1918, but resigned in order to serve with the 1st Canadian Tank Battalion towards the end of World War I.[6] He was elected as Burlington's Mayor in 1920.[2]

He was first elected to Parliament at the Halton riding in the 1935 general election, running as a Liberal-Progressive candidate but later allying with the Liberals.[7] He was afterwards re-elected under the Liberal banner for successive terms in 1940,[8] 1945 and 1949. He specialized in committee work during his time there, and served as Chairman of the Banking and Commerce Committee for ten years, of the War Expenditures Committee for two years, as well as of the Government-owned Railway and TCA Committee.[9]

Cleaver left the House of Commons after completing his fourth term in office, the 21st Canadian Parliament, and did not seek another term in the 1953 election upon being reinstated as a barrister by the Law Society of Upper Canada.[10][lower-alpha 1] In his professional work afterwards, he was a key player in the development of many of Burlington's subdivisions, and helped to establish the Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital.[9]

Electoral record

1949 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Hughes Cleaver	9,546	49.0	+2.8
	Progressive Conservative	M. Sybil Bennett	8,099	41.6	-1.0
	Co-operative Commonwealth	William Albert Shane	1,829	9.4	-1.8
Total valid votes			19,474	100.0

1945 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Hughes Cleaver	7,344	46.3	-9.5
	Progressive Conservative	Allan Stanley Nicholson	6,763	42.6	-1.7
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Carlyle C. Browne	1,770	11.1	n/a
Total valid votes			15,877	100.0

Note: Progressive Conservative vote is compared to "National Government" vote in 1940 election.

1940 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Hughes Cleaver	7,788	55.7	+8.9
	National Government	George C. Atkins	6,184	44.3	+5.3
Total valid votes			13,972	100.0

Note: "National Government" vote is compared to Conservative vote in 1935 election.

1935 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal–Progressive	Hughes Cleaver	6,177	46.8	+1.4
	Conservative	George Currie	5,146	39.0	-15.6
	Reconstruction	Melville Marks Robinson	1,876	14.2	n/a
Total valid votes			13,199	100.0

Notes

1. He had been disbarred for misuse of clients' funds, shortly after the 1929 stock market crash[11]

References

1. "Pretty Wedding at Burlington". The Acton Free Press. 31 August 1916. p. 3.
2. Normandin, Pierre G. (1952). The Canadian Parliamentary Guide. H.J. Morgan. p. 161.
3. "Cleaver, Ariel Annie Shapland (Died)". The Burlington Gazette. 25 November 1975. p. 61.
4. "Halton MP 19 years; Hughes Cleaver dies". The Acton Free Press. 5 November 1980. p. 2.
5. Minutes of Convocation. Volume 5. Law Society of Upper Canada. 1980. p. 518.
6. "Service Record". Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
7. Cleaver, Hughes (9 October 1935). "To the Electors of Halton County". The Georgetown Herald. p. 2.
8. Cleaver, Hughes (7 February 1940). "To the Eelctors of Halton". The Georgetown Herald. p. 5.
9. "Set Time Record as M.P., Cleaver 50 Years Married". The Georgetown Herald. 8 September 1966. p. 12.
10. "Meeting of Convocation". Law Society of Upper Canada. 18 October 1951. p. xliii.
11. "Request for Removal of 514 Pearl Street (The Hughes Cleaver House) from Municipal Register for Demolition" (PDF). Planning and Building Department, City of Burlington. 11 April 2016. p. 4.

External links

• Hughes Cleaver – Parliament of Canada biography