Adolphe-Basile Routhier

{{Infobox person

| honorific_prefix = Sir

| name = Adolphe-Basile Routhier

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|FRSC|size=100%}}

| image = Adolphe-Basile Routhier.png

| caption = Routhier in {{circa|1890}}

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1839|05|08}}

| birth_place = Saint-Benoît (Saint-Placide), Lower Canada

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1920|06|27|1839|05|08}}

| death_place = Saint-Irénée-les-Bains, Quebec, Canada

| resting_place = Cimetière Notre-Dame-de-Belmont

| other_names =

| known_for = Writing the lyrics of the original French version of the Canadian national anthem "O Canada"

| occupation = lawyer, author, judge, and professor

| nationality = Canadian

| title = President of the Royal Society of Canada

| term = 1913–1914

| predecessor = Frank Dawson Adams

| successor = Alfred Baker

| spouse = {{marriage|Clorinde Mondelet|1862}}

}}

Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier {{post-nominals|country=CAN|FRSC}} ({{IPA|fr|adɔlf bazil ʁutje}}; May 8, 1839 – June 27, 1920) was a Canadian judge, author, and lyricist. He wrote the lyrics of the original French version of the Canadian national anthem "O Canada". He was born in Saint-Placide, Quebec, to Charles Routhier and Angélique Lafleur.{{cite web |url=http://www.toponymie.gouv.qc.ca/ct/topos/carto.asp?Speci=293601&Latitude=45,53333&Longitude=-74,2&Zoom=1700 |title=Saint-Placide (Municipalité) |access-date=March 11, 2009 |publisher=Commission de toponymie du Québec |language=fr |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930202606/http://www.toponymie.gouv.qc.ca/ct/topos/carto.asp?Speci=293601&Latitude=45,53333&Longitude=-74,2&Zoom=1700 |archive-date=September 30, 2015 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}

Early life and education

Routhier was born and grew up in Saint-Placide, Quebec, on his family's farm. He attended Séminaire de Ste-Thérèse, and later studied law at Université Laval.{{cite book|author=John Robert Colombo|title=The Poets of Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8KQqAAAAMAAJ|year=1978|publisher=Hurtig Publishers|isbn=978-0-88830-150-5|page=52}}{{cite book|author=Canada. Parliament. Special Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Commons on the National and Royal Anthems|title=Minutes of Proceedings: June 8, 1967- Feb. 15, 1968|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gVu_AAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA2|year=1967|publisher=R. Duhamel|page=2}} He graduated and was called to the Quebec bar in 1861.

Career

Routhier practised law in Kamouraska until he was appointed to the Quebec Superior Court in 1873 (as Chief Justice from 1904 to 1906) and Admiralty of the Exchequer Court of Canada (from 1897 to 1906).{{cite DCB|title=Routhier, Sir Adolphe-Basile|last= Hébert|first=Yves|url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/routhier_adolphe_basile_14E.html|volume=14|accessdate=January 27, 2015}}

Routhier ran as a Conservative candidate for the riding of Kamouraska in several federal elections, but he was never elected.{{cite book|author=Brian Thompson|title=Anthems and Minstrel Shows: The Life and Times of Calixa Lavallée, 1842-1891|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6PqrCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA438|year=2015|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|isbn=978-0-7735-4555-7|page=218-219}}

Routhier wrote a number of books under the name Jean Piquefort.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JcMNCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT11|title=Our Song: The Story of O Canada, the Canadian National Anthem|last1=Kuitenbrouwer|first1=Peter|last2=Spires|first2=Ashley|publisher=Scholastic Canada|year=2015|isbn=978-1-4431-3372-2|page=11|author-link2=Ashley Spires}}

Routhier's poem "Ô Canada" was commissioned by the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec Théodore Robitaille for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony.{{cite web|url=https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/anthems-canada/history-o-canada.html|publisher=Department of Canadian Heritage|title=Full history of 'O Canada'|date=January 5, 2018|access-date=September 25, 2019}}

In June 1914, Routhier was one of the three judges appointed to conduct the Commission of Inquiry into the sinking of the Canadian Pacific steamship {{RMS|Empress of Ireland||2}}, which had resulted in the loss of 1,012 lives.{{cite book|last=Marshall|first=Logan|author-link=Logan Marshall|title=The Tragic Story of the Empress of Ireland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BRJmAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT110|access-date=January 27, 2015|year=2014|publisher=Penguin Group US|location=New York, New York|isbn=978-0-698-15132-1|page=110|orig-year=First published 1914}}

Personal

Routhier married Clorinde Mondelet on November 12, 1862, in Quebec and had one son.

Honours

Many sites and landmarks were named to honour Basile Routhier. They include:

Rue Basile-Routhier (Basile-Routhier Street), located in Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada;
Place Basile-Routhier, located in Shawinigan;
Rue Basile-Routhier in Montreal, Quebec;
Boulevard Basile-Routhier in Repentigny, Quebec.
Avenue Sir Adolphe Routhier in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada;