John Thomas Lithgow (1865 – 1937)
John Lithgow served as the Controller of the Currency for Yukon from 1898 to at least 1904.1) Lithgow was an appointed member of the Yukon Council in 1906. Yukoners took an active interest in the naming of a new Commissioner after William McInnes resigned at the end of December 1906. The only Dawson newspaper, The Dawson Daily News, supported Lithgow for the position. Four hundred people attended a mass meeting where he was nominated, but only ninety-five people voted for him, while seventy-five were opposed, and most left the meeting before the vote. A second meeting condemned Lithgow’s nomination, and third, sponsored by the Liberal Tabs contingent, wanted F.T. Congdon returned to the position.2)
Lithgow took over as acting Commissioner after McInnes’s departure.3) He served in the position from December 31, 1906 to June 17, 1907.4) Word reached Whitehorse in March 1910 that Comptroller Lithgow would not be returning to the Yukon as he had accepted a new position organizing the accounting system for the proposed Canadian Navy.5)