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DELOS ROGEST DAVIS: first Black lawyer in Canada
The most prominent Black person of Amherstburg in the late 19th-century was probably Delos Rogest Davis. Davis was born in Colchester Township in 1846. He taught school in Colchester North for four years before he was appointed commissioner of affidavits in 1871. Two years later he became a public notary. He studied very hard in the hope of becoming a lawyer, but to be admitted to the Bar, an applicant had to article for a time under a lawyer and then pass the Bar examination. Finally, In 1894, he appealed to the Ontario Legislature, asking that the Supreme Court of Judicature admit him to the Bar without articling if he could pass the examination and pay the fee. The Legislature granted his appeal. Davis passed the examination, paid the fee and was admitted to the Law Society of Upper Canada on May 19, 1885. The first Black lawyer in Canadian history, Davis went on to achieve for himself and his race another 'first' when he was made King's Counsel in 1910. He died in 1915.
Davis' son followed in his father's footsteps and graduated from Osgoode Hall in 1900. The two men established the firm of Davis and Davis, Barristers, on Gore Street in Amherstburg.
Courtesy: Irwin Publishing Inc.
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