Background
Born in Saint Thomas, Canada West (now Ontario), the second son of William Coyne and Christina Patterson, Coyne graduated from University College, Toronto in 1870.
Born in Saint Thomas, Canada West (now Ontario), the second son of William Coyne and Christina Patterson, Coyne graduated from University College, Toronto in 1870.
He studied law in Saint Thomas and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1874.
He practiced law in Saint Thomas. During the Fenian raids of 1866, Coyne joined the Saint Thomas Rifles and served in three campaigns in London, Portuguese Stanley, and Sarnia. He acted as quartermaster-sergeant to the Provisional battalion of volunteers in Thorold.
In 1877, he joined the University company of the Queen"s Own Rifles, where he remained a member until his graduation in 1870.
In 1906 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and served as its president from 1926 to 1927. James Bowes Coyne"s son, James Elliott Coyne, was the second Governor of the Bank of Canada.
Op-ed writer Andrew Coyne is a great-grandson.
From 1898 to 1902, he was President of the Ontario Historical Society and was a member of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada from 1919 to 1930.