This outfit belonged to Léon Lajoie (1891-1972), a lawyer and judge. It consists of a pair of pants, a knee-length robe with sleeves, and a jacket adorned with four small gussets on the front and equipped with a notched collar. Its jacket closes in the front with five silk-lined buttons, and its sleeves are trimmed with a bias pleat with three silk buttons to which narrow braids of thread are attached that are arranged and sewn downward on the inside.
As for Léon Lajoie, he was born in 1891 in Trois-Rivières. He was the son of Sophie Bureau and Napoléon Lajoie, a merchant. He was the grandson of lawyer Joseph-Napoléon Bureau and Sophie Gingras.
Léon Lajoie studied classics at the Séminaire Saint-Joseph (1901-1904), then at the Collège Sainte-Marie de Montréal, and later completed a course in Law at the Université Laval de Montréal. He was called to the Bar on July 6, 1916. The following year, he joined his brother François to form the legal study Lajoie et Lajoie.
He married Jeanne René de Cotret. In the 1921 Canadian census, the couple lived at 12, rue du Château in Trois-Rivières. At that time, they had two children, Germaine and Françoise. They would later have six more, including Renée, the donor of this clothing.
In 1935, Léon Lajoie became the Liberal candidate in the provincial election. Defeated, he returned without resentment to his career as a lawyer, which continued until 1940, when he became a judge. He began at the Cour du Magistrat (1940-1949). He then sat on the Superior Court of the Province of Quebec until 1964, when he retired due to illness.
Along with his professional career, Lajoie held the position of administrator of the Siscoe Gold Mines (1932-1940) and Ki-8-Eb Country Club Ltd. In addition, he was appointed commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great (1950). He was also president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in his parish and involved in charitable works.
Léon Lajoie died in November 1972.
Donation from Renée Lajoie St-Cyr
Musée Pierre-Boucher Collection
1978 521 C.2-1
1978 522 C.2-1
