Frederick Tennyson Congdon

Frederick Tennyson Congdon

Frederick Tennyson Congdon, lawyer, politician, commissioner of the Yukon Territory, MP (b at Annapolis, NS 16 Nov 1858; d at Ottawa 13 Mar 1932). Although Congdon was a dynamic speaker and shrewd organizer, his tenure as Yukon Commissioner was characterized by corruption and controversy. His unscrupulous manipulations led to the disincorporation of the City of Dawson in 1904.

After attending Yarmouth High School and University of Toronto (BA 1879, LLB 1883), he studied law at the Inner Temple in London. He was an editorial writer for the Halifax Morning Chronicle (1885-87), then practised law and in 1896 lectured at the Dalhousie Law School. In 1898, he compiled Congdon's Digest of Nova Scotia Reports. A prominent Liberal, he moved to the Yukon, where he served as crown prosecutor and legal advisor to the Yukon Council before being appointed commissioner of the territory in 1903. He resigned in 1904 in order to contest the Yukon seat in Parliament but was defeated. He won the seat in a 1909 by-election but lost it in 1911. He ran again in a deferred election in 1918, winning a majority in the Yukon, but lost the seat when the soldier vote was apportioned to his opponent. He practised law in Toronto after another defeat in 1921.