John Solomon Cartwright (1804-1845)

He was born in Kingston, Upper Canada. He was tutored at home and at sixteen went to Toronto to article in the law offices of Sir John Beverley Robinson. He continued his studies at Lincoln's Inn, London, and was called to the English Bar in 1825. He travelled in Europe before returning to Kingston in 1830. Two years later, he became the first President of the Commercial Bank of the Midland District. In 1834, he was elevated to the bench as a Judge, took silk (Q.C.) in 1838, and in 1840 was elected M.P. for Lennox and Addington. As a politician, he attempted to ensure that British institutions would be preserved in the new Union of Upper (Ontario) and Lower (Quebec) Canada. In 1834, he proposed a form of juvenile reform school that he called “Juvenile Houses of Refuge,” but the resolution was not implemented. In 1844, he returned to England in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the capital being moved from Kingston to Montreal. He was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Kingston Militia and lived at Rockwood where he kept a large library of books on philosophy, religion, literature, law, history, and politics. He enjoyed horse-racing and betting, gambling with cards for high stakes, and good wine.

He is credited for having a major influence on the architecture of many of Kingston's public buildings, either by choosing the architects or influencing the choice of architect. In Napanee, outside Kingston, it is said that every public building, including schools and churches, were built on land donated by Cartwright, and in 1832 he sold the 1,100-acres on which his business partner Sir Allan Napier MacNab built Dundurn Castle. His Irish sister-in-law, Harriet Dobbs Cartwright (1808-1887), was notable for her charitable work in Kingston. In 1831, he married Sarah Hayter Macaulay, daughter of James Macaulay, Chief Medical Officer of Upper Canada, and they were survived by five of eight children.