William Ralph Meredith

Sir William Ralph Meredith, (March 31, 1840 – August 21, 1923) was a Canadian lawyer, politician and judge. He served as Leader of the Ontario Conservatives from 1878 to 1894, Chancellor of the University of Toronto from 1900 until his death, and Chief Justice of Ontario from 1913 until his death. Through his principles, known as the "Meredith Principles", he is regarded as the founding father of the Workers' Compensation System in Ontario, the impact of which was felt throughout Canada and the United States. Background Born March 31, 1840, at Westminster Township, Upper Canada, he was the eldest son of John Walsingham Cooke Meredith and a member of a well-known legal family in Ireland and Canada. His middle name was for his great-grandfather, Ralph Meredith (1748–1799), Attorney Exchequer and Justice of the Peace for County Dublin. William R. Meredith and his well-known brothers were collectively known as "The Eight London Merediths", who included among them Chief Justice Richard Martin Meredith, Sir Vincent Meredith, Thomas Graves Meredith and Charles Meredith. The brothers were first cousins of The Rt. Hon. Richard Edmund Meredith, Master of the Rolls in Ireland, and Frederick Walsingham Meredith (1859–1924), President of the Law Society of Ireland. Meredith's father was a first cousin of Chief Justice Sir William Collis Meredith, Edmund Allen Meredith and Sir James Creed Meredith. The last named was the father of Judge James Creed Meredith, uncle of Chief Justice Sir Herbert Ribton Meredith. Early career