John Elmsley

The Hon. John Elmsley
Chief Justice of Upper Canada
In office 1796–1802
Preceded by	William Osgoode
Succeeded by	Henry Allcock
Chief Justice of Lower Canada
In office 1802–1805
Preceded by	William Osgoode
Personal details
Born	1762 London
Died	April 29, 1805 Montreal
Alma mater	Oriel College, Oxford
Religion	Church of England

John Elmsley (1762 – April 29, 1805) was Chief Justice of Upper Canada and afterwards Lower Canada. In both the Canadas he served as President of the Executive Council and Speaker of the Legislative Council. During the Hunter administration, he was the most powerful man in Upper Canada. In Lower Canada, from 1802 until his death he was second only in rank to the Lieutenant Governor.

In 1762, he was born in England at Marylebone, London. He was the first son of Alexander and Anne (Elligood) Elmsley. He was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, graduating BA in 1786, MA in 1789, and entered the Inner Temple in 1790.

At London, in July, 1796, he married Mary Hallowell, daughter of Captain Benjamin Hallowell (1723-1799) R.N., of Roxbury, Boston, by his wife Mary, daughter of Thomas Boylston. Together they had at least one son, John Jr, who later followed him into the Executive Council of Upper Canada. Mrs Elmsley's Loyalist father was His Majesty's Commissioner of Customs for the Port of Boston at the time of the Boston Tea Party, which led the excited revolutionaries to persecute and expel the family from Boston, on pain of death. Mrs Elmsley was a niece of Governor Moses Gill and her brothers included Admiral Sir Benjamin Hallowell-Carew, one of Nelson's Band of Brothers, and Ward Hallowell (better known as Ward Nicholas Boylston), the great benefactor of Harvard University. Her mother was a first cousin of Susanna Boylston, the mother of the 2nd President of the United States, John Adams, and grandmother of the 6th President, John Quincy Adams.

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