Samuel Leonard Tilley

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Samuel Leonard Tilley in 1864

Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley , PC , KCMG (born May 8, 1818 in Gagetown , New Brunswick , † June 25, 1896 in Saint John ) was a Canadian politician . From 1861 to 1865 he ruled New Brunswick as Prime Minister. As one of the fathers of the Confederation , he was one of the pioneers of the Canadian state founded in 1867. From 1867 to 1873 and from 1879 to 1885 he was a member of the Canadian House of Commons and during that time held several ministerial posts at the federal level. He also served from 1873 to 1878 and from 1885 to 1893 as Lieutenant Governor of the Province of New Brunswick.

biography

Politicians in New Brunswick

After finishing school, Tilley began training as a pharmacist in Saint John . In 1838 he opened his own pharmacy there with a cousin, which he ran alone from 1848 and finally sold in 1860. Tilley was in the temperance movement active and part-time as a Sunday School teacher of the Church of England operates. He was married twice and had ten children. A second marriage son, Leonard Percy de Wolfe Tilley , later became Prime Minister of New Brunswick. In 1849 he co-founded the liberal New Brunswick Colonial Association , which called for political reforms in the colony.

Tilley and his first wife, ca.1843

In 1850 Tilley ran successfully in the election for the legislative assembly . He campaigned for the construction of railways and for the introduction of self-government in the colony. After two prominent representatives of the Colonial Association, John Hamilton Gray and Robert Duncan Wilmot , defected to the government in 1851, he resigned his parliamentary mandate in protest. In 1854 Tilley was re-elected and the new Prime Minister Charles Fisher appointed him to the government as provincial secretary. His area of ​​responsibility included infrastructure projects and the financial budget. He passed a strict prohibition law that came into force in early 1856. However, it proved to be unenforceable and led to violent protests, which is why Governor John Manners Sutton removed the government in May 1856. The newly elected parliament then repealed the controversial law.

In 1857 there was another election and Prime Minister Fisher brought Tilley back into the government as provincial secretary. The most important task in the following years was the completion of the European and North American Railway . After Fisher's resignation because of his involvement in a minor corruption scandal, Tilley took over the office of Prime Minister on March 19, 1861. During his reign he negotiated the construction of the Intercolonial Railway . Tilley was a proponent of a confederation of colonies in British North America . For this reason he attended the Charlottetown Conference and the Québec Conference in September and October 1864, respectively .

However, the planned Canadian Confederation encountered fierce opposition in New Brunswick. The new Anti-Confederation Party won the election in March 1865, while those in favor of the Confederation suffered a heavy defeat; Tilley also lost his seat. But just a year later the political situation changed again fundamentally, as the Anti-Confederation Party broke up. In May 1866 there was a new election, which ended with an overwhelming victory for the Confederation supporters. Tilley was one of the delegates to the London Conference in December 1866 , where the British North America Act was negotiated. The name Dominion for the new state is attributed to Tilley, who is said to have been inspired by Psalm 72: 8 of the King James Bible .

Federal politics

Tilley in 1869
Monument in King's Square Park in Saint John

On July 1, 1867, the founding day of Canada, Prime Minister John Macdonald appointed Tilley as Minister of Customs in his cabinet. In the first Canadian general election , he ran as a Liberal Conservative and won the constituency of Saint John. In the same year he married a second time (his first wife had died ten years earlier). Tilley was given the task of transferring the customs and administrative system of the former province of Canada to the maritime provinces , otherwise he had little influence in the cabinet. Disaffected, he wanted to leave the cabinet in 1871, but Macdonald persuaded him to stay. In February 1873 he appointed him finance minister.

When the Pacific scandal brought down the federal government, Tilley gave up his House of Commons mandate. Governor General Lord Dufferin swore him in on November 15, 1873 as Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick. Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie tried in vain to reverse the appointment proposed by his predecessor Macdonald. Tilley held the representative office until July 11, 1878. Two months later he ran in the 1878 general election and won in his ancestral constituency of Saint John.

John Macdonald had become Canadian Prime Minister again after a five-year hiatus and called Tilley back into his cabinet. He was appointed finance minister and in May 1879 also took over the office of treasurer. Its most important task was the implementation of the National Policy : With high import tariffs on consumer goods, the Canadian industrial production should be strengthened. For health reasons he finally withdrew from federal politics on November 10, 1885. The following day he was appointed lieutenant governor of New Brunswick for a second time. His second term lasted until September 21, 1893.

Web links

Commons : Samuel Leonard Tilley  - Collection of images, videos and audio files


personal data
SURNAME Tilley, Samuel Leonard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian politician, Prime Minister and Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick
DATE OF BIRTH May 8, 1818
PLACE OF BIRTH Gagetown , New Brunswick
DATE OF DEATH June 25, 1896
Place of death Saint John , New Brunswick