Sir William Collis Meredith, QC (23 May 1812 – 26 February 1894) was Chief Justice of the Superior Court for the Province of Quebec from 1866 to 1884.

A year after Meredith was born his family moved up to Ardtrea, near Cookstown, County Tyrone, his father having resigned his fellowship in Dublin to take up the position of Rector there.

In 1819, Meredith's father died of 'a sudden and awful visitation' at his home while attempting to shoot a ghost with a silver bullet.

His mother returned to Harcourt Street, Dublin, and he joined his Meredith and Redmond cousins at Dr Behan's school in County Wexford.

Formerly a magistrate at Tuam, Meredith's step-father had "wasted every farthing of his Irish property" and so attracted by the land grants he took the position of the Church of England's first missionary to Terrebonne, Quebec.

In the summer of 1824, Meredith arrived at 'Burtonville', his stepfather's house and farm outside Rawdon, Quebec, then a four-day journey north of Montreal.

In 1828, William's mother, "a lady of much culture and refinement, and possessed also of great energy and force of character", sent him back to Ireland to complete his studies at Trinity College Dublin.

Under the command of Lt.-Colonel Clément-Charles Sabrevois de Bleury, with whom he had articled with a few years previously, Meredith joined the Montreal Rifles as a Lieutenant and saw action against the French rebels at the Battle of Saint-Eustache, reaching the rank of Major in the militia.

In 1843, he commissioned John Wells, to build him a home beyond the walls of Old Montreal on a spacious plot of land surrounded by fields, Elm and Maple trees.

He conducted a good deal of business for the university, and it was with his influence that his younger brother, Edmund Allen Meredith, became the sixth principal of McGill from 1846 to 1853.

Meredith's friend Sir John Abbott, who had studied law under him and later became Prime Minister of Canada, was a reluctant supporter of Canadian Confederation in 1866.

Subsequently, Alexander Tilloch Galt endorsed the proposal, had the London Conference of 1866 accept it, and included it as Article 80 of the British North America Act, 1867.

In 1866, following the death of one of Meredith's closest friends, Edward Bowen, Sir George-Étienne Cartier appointed him Chief Justice of the Superior Court for the Province of Quebec.

Jurisconsulte eminent, magistrat dont la reputation d'honorabilite a toujours ete au-dessus du soupcon, bienveillent pour tout la monde, d'un politesse vraiment exquise, M. le juge en chef va laisser une vide bien difficile a remplir.

Along with his wife's cousin, George Irvine, Meredith was named as one of the two men, who if appointed, would bring the greatest satisfaction to the English-speaking minority.

At Meredith's death in 1894, the Legal News printed: The late Chief Justice was a diligent advocate and judge, and conscientious and painstaking in the performance of every duty.

In Quebec City, they owned three further houses and two barn stables; keeping five pleasure carriages, sleighs, two wagon-sleds, three horses and one milk cow.

When he became financially independent in 1830, Meredith had purchased four town lots in Kent County, Upper Canada, that turned out to be an important investment in consequence of the railway that was built there.

In 1853, Edmund Allen Meredith wrote in his diary that 'the doctor (as they referred to MacDonnell) spoke much of the splendid apples and cider William had sent him'.

He possessed 'troops' of friends and was 'held in the highest respect in the City and Province of Quebec, by all classes of the community' and even more extraordinary for the time, was described as being as popular among the French as the English.

A cette grande affabilite qui n'est nulle part plus appreciable que sur le banc d'un tribunal.

Sir William Colles Meredith died 26 February 1894, aged eighty two after a short illness, and he was buried with many of his family at Mount Hermon Cemetery, Sillery.

Part of the inscription on his gravestone reads, "... Thoughtful consideration for others marked all his acts and made bright his daily walk through life."