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Royal Commission Parliament Buildings Fire Report
On February 7, 1916, a Royal Commission was appointed to examine the cause of the fire that destroyed the Centre Block. The Commission held a series of public meetings between February 10 and February 23, 1916. The final report was published on May 5, 1916.
You can read the full report of Royal Commission Parliament Buildings Fire Report here. The PDF file is 159 pages long.
Note: To assist in navigating the document, I have added bookmarks and hi-lighted the names of the witnesses.
I have attempted to recreate the document as accurately as possible. This includes spelling mistakes, spelling variations and grammar errors found in the original source documents.
You can find the report's original source documents on the Privy Council Office, Archived Commissions - by Topic Web page.
The two commissioners appointed to investigate the fire were:
- Robert Abercrombie Pringle, King’s Counsel (K.C.), and
- Duncan Byron MacTavish, Queen’s Counsel (Q.C.), Senior County Judge for Carleton County.
Robert Abercrombie Pringle, K.C.
Pringle was one of the leaders of the Ottawa Bar. He was born at Cornwall, Ontario, on December 15, 1855. He attended Queen’s University in Kingston and Osgoode Hall in Toronto. He was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1881 and practised in Cornwall from 1883 until 1911. In 1906, he became a King’s Counsel (K.C.).
In 1911, he moved to the capital and established the legal firm of Pringle, Thompson, Burgess and Cote, Barristers and Solicitors. He had offices in the Quebec Bank Building on Wellington Street.
The Federal Government appointed him to several important commissions before and after the inquiry into the Parliament Hill fire.
Mr. Pringle was a prominent figure in the politics of Eastern Ontario and was a lifelong Conservative. As candidate for that party he was elected to the House of Commons for the riding of Stormont in 1900. He was re-elected in 1904 but defeated in the general elections of 1908.
He belonged to the Masonic Order and was a member of the Rideau Club and the Royal Ottawa Golf and Albany Club in Toronto.
Duncan Byron MacTavish, Senior County Judge County of Carleton and City of Ottawa
MacTavish was born in the in Carleton, Ontario in 1850. He was educated in the Public School in Osgoode, at the Ottawa Grammar School and at the Metcalfe Grammar School. He attended Queen’s University, Kingston, graduating B.A. in 1870, and M.A. in 1873. He studied law under Sir. O. Mowat and was called to the Bar in 1877.
MacTavish was that he was born in Carleton, Ontario in 1850. He was educated in the public school in Osgoode and at the Ottawa and the Metcalfe grammar schools. He attended Queen’s University in Kingston, graduated with a M.A. in 1873, and was called to the Bar in 1877.
