Book Review and associated information

Abbott, Elizabeth L. (1997) The Reluctant P.M.: Notes on the Life of Sir John Abbott, Canada's Third Prime Minister

This is a confirmation that Canada does not produce many books on their Prime Ministers. John J.J. Abbott served for 528 days, all of the 4th Ministry (1891-1892), and died in office Oct 1893. It certainly wasn't the shortest term (that belongs to Charles Tupper - 69 days). Nor was he the only PM to die in office, his successor John Sparrow also died in office, as did the first PM, John Macdonald.

In the Wikipedia's list of books about Prime Ministers of Canada, there are only three. One I discounted as it appeared too thin on pages and historical scholarship - L. van Ewijk, Pieter (2020) POWER BROKER; Canada's 3rd Prime Minister, John J.C. Abbott, Coaldale, Alberta: PvE Publishing. The second was thin as it covered four PMs but had good scholarship and was reviewed - Hill, Michael (2022) The Lost Prime Ministers: Macdonald's Successors Abbott, Thompson, Bowell, and Tupper.

The last one seemed promising - Abbott, Elizabeth L. (1997) The Reluctant P.M.: Notes on the Life of Sir John Abbott, Canada's Third Prime Minister. But the promise was a misdirection, as I and libraries thought this was Dr Elizabeth Abbott. Born 1942 in Ottawa, Ontario. Education: Sir George Williams (now Concordia) University, B.A. 1963; McGill University M.A. 1966, PhD 1971. Senior Research Associate and former Dean of Women, Trinity College, University of Toronto.

There were also spelling errors in how the author was cited, sometimes with an 's' (Elisabeth), sometimes a 'z'.

Trying to locate "The Reluctant P.M." I found it was unavailable at Amazon, in none of the libraries in Texas (I live in the Dallas-Ft.Worth metroplex), and WorldCat.org only list it in 8 libraries, none of them did I have access.

Subsequently I emailed Dr. Abbott. (her reply below with permission)

Alas, I'm not the author of The Reluctant P.M.: Notes on the Life of Sir John Abbott. That's the other Canadian Elizabeth Abbott, whom I don't know, and don't know how to locate. I first became aware of her decades ago, when I still lived in Montreal and knew someone who also knew her, but I can't recall more than that. But every few years since email was invented, I have received queries about work she must be doing, and I answer them with the disappointing news that I'm the wrong EA.

I emailed the owner of Parnassus Book Service (Sarah Romano), in an attempt to locate the real author. This book service listed for sale a possible link to her - Lessard, Michel & Huguette Marquis (1974) "Complete Guide to French-Canadian Antiques". Translated by Elisabeth Abbott. Agincourt, Ontario: Gage Educational Publishing Ltd. Sarah replied

I have looked through the title you asked about and the only reference to Elisabeth Abbot was the notation on the title page that she was the translator. Nothing else, Sorry.

Since I had lived adjacent to Chapel Hill, NC while at Duke University, I emailed the UNC Library, reporting my findings (including spelling issues), and asked if there was any way I could read their copy (spiral bound, possibly self-published). What ensued was several exchanges between them and me and my public library (which had told me they would not process an InterLibrary Loan outside the state of Texas). A later email from UNC acknowledged that in the past they had received requests from my Plano Public Library System. Eventually, after I promised to pay my library's ILL fees, and UNC's ILL fees (costing me more than if I would have been able to buy the book), and a long delay (book rate=travel by mule), it arrived. Part of the delay was the book was in remote storage, no one had ever check it out. It required special dispensation to access this book.

It was listed in the WorldCat computer as spiral bound, but in fact it was hard bound. But there was no publisher information in it, so it might have been spiral bound, then cut and hard bound after the fact. This was further supported by the fact that all even numbered pages are cut too close to the seam and the last letters of each line are barely visible. It is otherwise in mint condition, as one might expect for a book uncirculated and barely known. She spells her name Elizabeth with a 'z' although it appears as a 's' in several places on the web and in catalogs.

I made further attempts to track the author using a book she references in her "About" section of the "Reluctant PM" - "Philip Musgrave, or Memoirs of a Church of England Missionary in the North American Colonies" August 24, 2018 by J. Abbott. Publisher:Forgotten Books (August 24, 2018). Google has it as a PDF which I downloaded. The book's Editor is The Rev. J. Abbott. London 1846. No luck finding information about Elizabeth Abbott. However she says she is writing a biography on Joseph Abbott a.k.a. Philip Musgrave. My search via Google again came up empty.

She undertook this work of the 3rd Canadian Prime Minister as a genealogy search of her own family. Much work and research is evident. However, her footnotes are as long as the text, and often ramble, as does the text. Every nugget of information she dug out of the ground is put into the book, at the expense of a coherent narrative. Accurately, she doesn't call this a "biography", but rather "Notes".

She often speaks in the first person about her own writing and research, e.g. "I have been unsuccessful in learning very much about her [Mary Martha Bethune, wife of Sir John Abbott, married July 26, 1849]. Or "The Occasion of her being a Queen by Lot (whatever THAT is)." or "James Earl of Arran Captain of the Scottish Company in France who never married & turned frantick... (whatever THAT means)"
The author apparently did not bother to check the Oxford English Dictionary

frantic, a. and n.
Forms: . 4–5 frentik

A. adj.
1. Affected with mental disease, lunatic, insane; in later use, violently or ragingly mad. Now rare.

1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 6 ‘Wel artou witti’, quod heo ‘wisdom to telle To fayturs or to fooles that frentik [B. x. 6 frantyk] ben of wittes!’ 1401 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 85, I do the wel to wite, frentike I am not. 1467 J. Paston in Paston Lett. No. 569 II. 299 As for John Appylby, he is half frentyk. 1586 Bright Melanch. xi. 52, I..aue obserued..in phrenticke persons the strength doubled vpon them. 1644 Digby Nat. Bodies (1645) i. 413, I have seene some frenticke persons, that [etc.].

Elizabeth Abbott did not give a sense of the politics and the key issues necessary for a biography of a Prime Minister. Nor did she keep to a linear chronology. And she skipped about like a butterfly in and out of people and topics which have no genealogical or historic relation. She wrote only a few pages at the end regarding his time as Prime Minister.

Creating a first class bio, such as Richard Gwyn's two volumes on Sir John A. MacDonald, is no easy task. She is an untrained historian and a poor writer who self-published without an editor. Her work might be a resource for a future biography of Sir John Abbott. However, as my agenda was to read a biography on the Prime Minister Sir John Abbott, I was extremely disappointed.


It occurred to me that since this work has not seen the light of day (except for the week I had it on loan) that I might scan a few pages and include them here. I would ask the author (Elizabeth Abbott) for permission, but as I have described, a diligent and honest search for her has been unsuccessful. Considering, I doubt she would object.

Each scanned page is on its own webpage.
Click NEXT to start viewing her book, and click NEXT at the top of each book page to see the next book page.