The Right Honourable Sir Lyman Poore Duff, P.C., G.C.M.G.

Lyman Poore Duff was born in Meaford, Canada West (Ontario), on January 7, 1865. He was the son of Charles Duff and Isabella Johnson. He attended the University of Toronto, earning a B.A. in 1887 and an LL.B. in 1889. To help pay for his studies, he taught mathematics. In 1893 he was called to the bar of Ontario and practised briefly in Fergus. He moved to Victoria the following year and was called to the bar of British Columbia in 1895. A member of the firm of Bodwell & Irving, in 1903 he was selected to serve as a junior counsel for Canada before the Alaskan Boundary Commission in London, England. He was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 1904 and to the Supreme Court of Canada on September 27, 1906. On March 17, 1933, he became Chief Justice of Canada. He served on the Supreme Court for 37 years, retiring on January 7, 1944. Chief Justice Duff died on April 26, 1955, at the age of 90.