Stanley Harwood McCuaig
Elder and President of the Canadian Bar Association · 1891–1986
Biography
Stanley Harwood McCuaig (1891–1986)
Stanley Harwood McCuaig was born in Bainsville, Ontario, on February 11, 1891. After earning a Bachelor of Arts at Queen’s University in 1913 he came west to Edmonton, where he studied law at the University of Alberta while articling under Alexander Cameron Rutherford, Alberta’s first premier and later his father-in-law.
He enlisted in the Canadian Field Artillery in April 1917 and served on the Western Front in 1918. Returning to law, he became a full partner in the Rutherford firm in 1923, alongside his brother-in-law Cecil Rutherford. In 1925 the firm took the name Rutherford, Rutherford and McCuaig; it continues today as McCuaig Desrochers LLP, which traces its origins to the law office Rutherford opened in 1895. He practised law in Edmonton for nearly sixty years.
McCuaig was President of the Canadian Bar Association in 1948–49 and of the Law Society of Alberta in 1952–53, and served on charitable boards including that of the Misericordia Hospital. His honours included an honorary Doctor of Laws from Queen’s University (1949), Edmonton’s Citizen of the Year (1955) and appointment to the Order of Canada (1972).
He and his family were long-time members of First Presbyterian Church, and he served as an elder for nearly half a century: the church’s Session portraits show him among the elders in 1934, in 1968 and again in March 1982, when he was ninety-one. He died in Edmonton in 1986.
Roles and service
-
Elder (on Session in 1934
- 1917 – 1918
Soldier
- 1923
Partner
- 1948 – 1949
President
- 1952 – 1953
President
Education
- 1913
Bachelor of Arts
-
Law
- 1949
Honorary Doctor of Laws
Further reading
Sources
Corrected October 2026: an earlier version said he founded his own firm, "McCuaig, Desrochers, Beckingham & McDonald," in 1939. The firm's own history shows it grew from Rutherford's practice and became McCuaig Desrochers only in 1971 (Louis Desrochers graduated in law in 1952). A Bene Merenti medal (1973) was also removed, as no source for it could be found. His exact date of death is uncertain: Wikipedia gives both March 6 and February 11, 1986, without a source.
- Church record "1934 Session," photograph page listing the elders, including S. H. McCuaig, page 53 of a bound volume held by First Presbyterian Church, Edmonton
- Church record Kirk Session, First Presbyterian Church, Edmonton, November 24, 1968: framed photograph with typed caption, front row, "Dr. S. H. McCuaig, Q.C."
- Church record Kirk Session, First Presbyterian Church, Edmonton, March 14, 1982: framed photograph with typed caption, front row, "Dr. S. McCuaig"
- Canadian Bar Association, "CBA Presidents since 1914" (1948–49, S.H. McCuaig, K.C., LL.D., Edmonton) Link to this source (opens in a new tab)
- Law Society of Alberta, "Presidents of the Law Society of Alberta" (Stanley Harwood McCuaig, KC, LL.D., 1952–1953) Link to this source (opens in a new tab)
- McCuaig Desrochers LLP, "History" (Rutherford's office of 1895; renamed Rutherford, Rutherford and McCuaig in 1925 and McCuaig Desrochers in 1971) Link to this source (opens in a new tab)
- Queen's University, Arts '13 Year Book (1913), 54 (cited in Wikipedia; not yet consulted) Link to this source (opens in a new tab)
- Canadian Great War Project, soldier record for Stanley Harwood McCuaig (birth, articling, enlistment April 20, 1917) (cited in Wikipedia; not yet consulted)
- Douglas R. Babcock, Alexander Cameron Rutherford: A Gentleman of Strathcona (1989), 88 (partnership, 1923) (cited in Wikipedia; not yet consulted)
- "S. H. McCuaig Awarded 'Citizen of the Year' Plaque," Edmonton Journal, May 3, 1955, 3 (cited in Wikipedia; not yet consulted)
- "City Lawyer Awarded Order of Canada," Edmonton Journal, December 23, 1972, 1 (cited in Wikipedia; not yet consulted)