FAMILY  FOLIAGE.

William Norman Tilley  (1868 ~ 1942)

 

4.5.4.3. Third child of Selina A. Vanstone and William E. Tilley, William 'Norman' Tilley, was born March 11, 1868, in Tyrone, Darlington Twp., Durham Co., Ontario.

  He married Caroline "Carrie" Young, daughter of Charles Young and Agnes, March 18, 1896, in Bowmanville, Darlington Twp., Durham Co., Ontario and had two children: 

 

• (4.5.4.3.1)  Dorothy Louise  (1898 ~ 1980)   

• (4.5.4.3.2)  Marion Young  (1902 ~ 1999)   

 

  W. Norman Tilley died June 10, 1942, aged 59 years, and Carrie Young Tilley died October 28, 1951, aged 84 years in Toronto, Ontario and are interred at Bowmanville Cemetery.

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----- MARRIAGE -----

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Tilley—Young

If the old adage be true, “Happy is the bride that the sun shines on,” there’s surely a life of bliss in store for the two young people who were united in the holy bonds of matrimony on Wednesday afternoon last. At 4:30 p.m. a large number of relatives assembled at “Maple Villa,” the residence of Mr. Charles Young, Liberty St. N., to witness the nuptials of his youngest daughter, Miss Carrie, and Mr. W. N. Tilley, barrister, of the well-known law firm, Messrs. Thompson, Henderson & Bell, Toronto, and son of Dr. W. E. Tilley, M.A., of this town, Inspector of Public Schools. Rev. C. Parker, pastor of the Methodist church, performed the ceremony in his usual affable manner. The bride who was charmingly attired in dress of cream silk, with a wreath of real orange blossoms from Redlands, Cal., carried a beautiful bouquet of cream roses. The bridesmaids were Miss Gertie Young, sister of the bride, and Miss Florence I. S. Tilley, sister of the groom, becomingly dressed in cream cashmere and carrying lovely bouquets of pink roses. Miss Lena Haddy, niece of the bride, made a pretty little maid of honor and performed her part exceedingly well. The bride wore a handsome pendant of diamonds and pearls and each of the bridesmaids beautiful pins, gifts of the groom. The groom was supported by his two brothers, Mr. H. R. Tilley, cashier of the Confederation Life Association, Toronto, and Dr. A. S. Tilley of this town. After receiving congratulations the bridal party repaired to the spacious dining room where a most tempting wedding dinner was served. A number of the guests accompanied the happy couple to the G.T.R. station where they took the express for Toronto where a handsomely furnished residence awaited them in South Parkdale. The bride received a very choice and costly array of presents as tokens of the esteem of her many friends. Miss Young has been an active worker in the church and Epworth League and the best wishes of all follow her for a happy and prosperous married life. Bowmanville Statesman, Mar. 25, 1896.

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----- OBITUARIES -----

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William Norman Tilley, K.C. Illustrious 

Son of Durham Paid Well Merited Tributes

Recognized as One of the Greatest Lawyers of His Time 

— Appeared Many Times Before Privy Council in 

England in Outstanding Cases.

Durham County, indeed all Canada mourns the passing of one of the nation’s most brilliant counsel. On June 10, 1942, news came with sudden shock to relatives, friends and citizens generally that an illustrious son of Durham County, William Norman Tilley, K.C., passed away at Toronto General Hospital, after an illness of less then a week. Busy right up to the last with legal matters, the deceased virtually died in harness in the profession he had pursued so indefatigably for a full and wholesome lifetime. Durham had no more brilliant and successful son and many compare him in sheer intellect with that other great Canadian long since identified with the annals of Durham, the Right Hon. Edward Blake, Q.C., former M.P. leader of the Liberal party and among the giants of Canada’s legal profession.

  Two great characteristics marked the lifelong career of Norman Tilley; his tremendous capacity for long hours at hard work and with it all high devotion to his mother. When his mother was left widowed, Norman seldom let a week go by without setting aside his work to motor down to Bowmanville to be with her, or if in distant parts, his messages were her constant joy. Seldom can great men so arrange their tremendous tasks to be constant companions of ageing parents, but Mr. Tilley did it, right to the day of his mother’s death. That simple fact crowned his right to be termed a truly great man. Now member of the legal profession and the highest judges in the land pay homage to his greatness.

MISSED BEING FARMER.

  One of the earliest stories of his life in that connection relates that his teacher advised his parents that William Norman Tilley had no bent for law, in spite of his desire in that direction, and that he should take up farming.

  The same story states that he came to Toronto with $10 in his pocket, still determined to find his place within the legal profession and became a student in law under Sir Allen Aylesworth, another of Canada’s great lawyers who at the turn of the century was Liberal candidate for Durham.

  The first unmistakable evidence that he was right and his school mentor was wrong came when he emerged as the gold medalist in his final year at Osgoode Hall and was called to the bar in 1894.

  Mr. Tilley was born at the village of Tyrone, Durham County, on March 11, 1868, and was the son of W. E. Tilley, inspector of public and high schools for that district. He did not have a university education, but he did possess in marked degree the capacity to think directly, an earthy common sense that is given too few, and an unmatched ability to appraise and evaluate human nature and events.

  With these qualities he forged to a leading position in the Canadian bar and by his works helped to mould the jurisprudence of the Dominion.

  For years he went twice each year to England to present appeals before the Privy Council, and on these occasions he often presented three or five appeals at the one hearing.

NOTED OVERSEAS.

  It is on record that when a member of the Canadian Government once consulted a group of leading British judges about what British counsel he should select for an important case, they joined in telling him that, with a Canadian counsel of such high merit as Mr. Tilley available, there was not the slightest need attempting to brief counsel in Britain.  

  The number of important cases in which he served reached, in the light of counsel’s usual experience, almost astronomical figures. He acted as special counsel to the Canadian Pacific Railway for many years and prior to that association had specialized in railway legal work.  He was appointed consulting counsel to the C. P. R. in 1918 upon the election of E. W., later Sir Edward Beatty, to the presidency of the company.  

  His first outstanding case was the International Fisheries Arbitration at The Hague, where he appeared as one of the counsel for the Dominion of Canada and for Newfoundland. He participated as counsel for the Dominion in the arbitration in the Canadian Northern Railway case and, during the first Great War, the expropriation proceedings in connection with the Ross Rifle plant at Quebec. He also acted for the Dominion in the Grand Trunk arbitration action, for the Ontario Government in the Ottawa school case and for the City of Toronto in the arbitration to fix the price to be paid to the Toronto Railway Company for its property. In commission inquiry work, he was best known locally, for his work as commission counsel in the 1932 investigation into Hydro affairs.

  Singled out as outstanding among his cases, and one that captured the attention of the profession and the public alike, was the famous libel action launched by Sir Arthur Currie in 1928. Mr. Tilley acted for the late commander of the Canadian Corps in the first Great War and the cases resulted in a complete vindication of Sir Arthur.

  Mr. Tilley, who was in his seventy-fifth year, was head of the firm, Tilley, Carson, Morlock & McCrimmon, and had been active in its direction with successive partner for half a century.

  He was appointed in 1915 and was first elected a Bencher of the Law Society in 1916. Upon his election at three succeeding quinquennial elections he became a Bencher for life on April 17, 1931. He was treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada from 1930 to 1935.

  With his skill in law, he held a keen insight into business practice, as testified by his work with corporations, and he served as director of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, the Bank of Montreal, Canada Life Insurance Company, and the Royal Trust Company.

The funeral was held form the Timothy Eaton Memorial Church [line illegible] interment in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.

  Those who carried the noted lawyer to the grave were, C. F. H. Carson, W. S. Morlock, B. V. McCrimmon, S. E. Wedd, J. G. Middleton and E. Philp Tilley. The service at the church was conducted by the previous minister, Rev. Dr. Trevor H. Davies, and the present occupant of the pulpit, Rev. David A. MacLennan.

  “Canada and the Empire are richer in the things that make for stability because he lived,” Rev. David A. MacLennan said. “To his family we offer out affectionate sympathy.  Their grief must be assuaged at least a little by evidence on every side that the greatness of his mind and spirit are realized by large numbers of people throughout the English-speaking world.”

 “He hated injustice with an honourable hatred, and with consummate generalship employed the weapons of his knowledge and skill in many assaults upon its entrenched positions,” Mr. MacLennan added. “His own unswerving loyalty to the right, and his championship of the right of rich and poor alike, made him the embodiment of justice to multitudes who did no know him personally. By his own keen sense of honesty and honour he made it easier to believe in their sovereign command. By his concern for the highest ideals of his profession, he made every lawyer prouder of his vocation. Young students of the law have more ardent a desire to acquit themselves worthily because W. N. Tilley marched at the head of their ranks.”

  Chief mourners were Mr. Tilley’s widow, formerly Carrie Young, and two daughters, Mrs. M. A. Cox and Mrs. Stephen M. Greey, and a sister, Mrs. A. N. Mitchell. Three young grandchildren were among members of his family present.

  Some 600 mourners attended the service, including, Dr. E. H. Coleman, Under-Secretary of State, representing also the Canadian Bar Association, attending with Frederick P. Varcoe, Deputy Minister of Justice.

  D. L. McCarthy, K.C., obtained adjournment of the Supreme Court at Ottawa to attend. Mr. McCarthy is treasurer of the Upper Canada Law Society, a position which Mr. Tilley filled so successfully from 1930 to 1935 that his legal friends considered his tenure of office a highlight in his career.

  Chief Justice R. S. Robertson, Sir William Mulock, who retired as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario six years ago, and Chief Justice Hugh E. Rose of the High Court were among the vast throng of mourners.

  Sir Edward Beatty, chairman, and D. C. Coleman, president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, of which Mr. Tilley for many years was consulting counsel, attended with other C.P.R. directors and officials. Dr. H. A. Beatty of Toronto attended with his brother.

 Lieutenant-Colonel Baptist Johnston represented Hon. Albert Matthews, Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, and the Ontario Government was represented by Attorney-General Gordon Conant.

  Sir William Mulock, former Chief Justice, declared: “Canada has lost one of her most brilliant lawyers,” and spoke warmly of the deceased’s talents and industry. “He won for himself the respect of the bench, the bar and the general public,” said Sir William. Bowmanville Statesman, June 18, 1942.

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Caroline Young Tilley

March 22, 1867 ~ October 28, 1951

TILLEY—Caroline Young Tilley, widow of W. N. Tilley, K.C., and sister of Mrs. F. A. Haddy and Mrs. H. W. Foster, passed away October 28, 1951 at her home, 488 Avenue Rd., Toronto. Bowmanville Statesman, Nov. 8, 1951.