And again, I get to talk about another John – the fourth prime minister and yet the third to be named John. To be fair, John Thompson’s full name was John Sparrow David Thompson, which is a pretty badass name, so I’m going to refer to him as “Sparrow” from here on out.

So this little bird Sparrow served as the fourth PM of Canada, from December 5, 1892 to December 12, 1894 – a total of two years and seven days or 737 days (I did the math….). Sparrow was born in Halifax on November 10, 1845, making him the second PM to be born in Canada and like most other PMs and political figures from the era – with the exception of stonemason Alexander Mackenzie – he had a background in law. He was fundamental in the foundation of the law school at Dalhousie University and is known for writing the first Criminal Code of Canada.

All in all, he had a pretty squeaky-clean career and rise into politics. The only thing juicy about Sparrow is that he willfully changed his religion to Roman Catholic. His controversial decision was to please Annie Affleck, whom he wed in 1870. The couple had eight children – only five of which survived to adulthood.

And his political rise was a poetic one. He served as attorney general in Nova Scotia before becoming premier in 1882. He caught the eye of John A. Macdonald, who considered Sparrow has one of his greatest political accomplishments. “My one great discovery was my discovery of Thompson,” said JAM. It was a happy political courtship.

As Sparrow was the apple of Macdonald’s political eye, he was the natural choice to succeed JAM when he died of a stroke in June 1891. The Tories, needing a new leader and a new prime minister, tried to court Sparrow into the job – but he didn’t want it. He declined the position because he felt there was a prejudice against the Roman Catholic faith he converted to for his wife. John Abbott reluctantly took the job as PM, and upon resigning a year later, finally convinced Sparrow into the job. And it’s interesting why finding a replacement for JAM was so difficult to do. Both Abbott and Sparrow weren’t keen on being PM, which suggests that the job of leading the country in the late 19th century wasn’t as glamorous or prestigious as the office would like to appear.

When Sparrow did take office, he wasn’t able to accomplish much. He flirted with introducing Newfoundland into the confederation, but that didn’t come to fruition until 1949. He made three appointments to the Supreme Court and travelled to Europe to argue for the seal harvest in the Bearing Sea – international relations in the 1890s.

Really, the most interesting thing about Sparrow is how he died – from a heart attack while he was in England. In 1892, he was honoured with becoming a member of Queen Victoria’s (who was the monarch for all of the PMs thus far) privy council. He died in Windsor Castle, leaving Queen Vicky with the body of a Canadian prime minister to deal with. His body was sent back to Canada, and is buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Halifax.

Sparrow was the second PM to die in office – the first, of course, being John A. Macdonald. And I find it interesting because I’m not really sure what happens when a Canadian PM dies – there is no clear and appointed “vice prime minister” as there is in the United States. And it brings into question as to who takes over when a prime minister dies or is incapacitated.

For this reason, dying in office is the most interesting thing that Sparrow accomplished as prime minister. And it’s what I’m going to write about next week, after I figure out the political process that goes into replacing a dead prime minister.