Samuel Bealey Harrison (March 4, 1802 – July 23, 1867) was

Joint Premier of the Province of Canada A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw- ...

for

Canada East Canada East () was the northeastern portion of the Province of Canada. Lord Durham's Report investigating the causes of the Upper and Lower Canada Rebellions recommended merging those two colonies. The new colony, known as the Province of ...

from 1841 to 1842 with

William Henry Draper William Henry Draper may refer to: * William Henry Draper (judge) William Henry Draper (March 11, 1801 – November 3, 1877) was a lawyer, judge, and politician in Upper Canada, later Canada West. Personal life He was born near London, Eng ...

PM for

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

. Draper was a member of the

Family Compact The Family Compact was a small closed group of men who exercised most of the political, economic and judicial power in Upper Canada (today's Ontario) from the 1810s to the 1840s. It was the Upper Canadian equivalent of the Château Clique in L ...

and Harrison was a moderate Reformer, the predecessor of the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...

. Born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

England to John and Mary Harrison, Harrison was a lawyer, miller, politician, and judge. He was called to the bar in 1832 and entered practice in London. Because of ill health, he retired to

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

near Oakville in 1837, intending to become a gentleman farmer. He also built a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

and

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

on his property. In 1839, he was called to the bar in Upper Canada and was appointed a justice of the peace in the following year. In 1841, Lord Sydenham appointed him provincial secretary for Canada West in the Executive Council of the

Province of Canada The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

. After two unsuccessful attempts to be elected to the

Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the Parliament of the Province of Canada. The Province of Canada consisted of the former province of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East (now Quebec), and Upper Canada ...

(in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

and then

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

), he was elected in a by-election in

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

on July 1, 1841. He served as government leader with

. In 1842, he was appointed to the Board of Works which was responsible for the building and improvement of

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

s within the province. Harrison was responsible for drafting and introducing the Common Schools Bill and the District Councils Bill which established elected municipal government in Canada West. Harrison introduced amendments which watered down

Robert Baldwin Robert Baldwin (May 12, 1804 – December 9, 1858) was an Upper Canadian lawyer and politician who with his political partner Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine of Lower Canada, led the first responsible government ministry in the Province of Canada. ...

's resolutions calling for responsible government to make them acceptable to Sydenham. However, it was Harrison who recommended to Sydenham's successor, Sir

Charles Bagot Sir Charles Bagot, (23 September 1781 – 19 May 1843) was a British politician, diplomat and colonial administrator. He served as ambassador to the United States, Russia, and the Netherlands. He served as the second Governor General of Cana ...

, that Baldwin and

Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine Sir Louis-Hippolyte Ménard '' dit'' La Fontaine, 1st Baronet, KCMG (October 4, 1807 – February 26, 1864) was a Canadian politician who served as the first Premier of the United Province of Canada and the first head of a responsible governme ...

be invited to form the next government. Harrison served as provincial secretary in the new administration but resigned in 1843 to protest the movement of the capital from Kingston to

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. He was elected again to the assembly in

in 1844 but resigned in 1845 to accept an appointment as judge of the Surrogate Court for the

Home District The Home District was one of four districts of the Province of Quebec created in 1788 in the western reaches of the Montreal District and detached in 1791 to create the new colony of Upper Canada. It was abolished with the adoption of the county ...

. He served in that position for 22 years, continuing in the court for York County after the district was abolished. He was named to the Board of Education for Canada West and also served in the Senate for the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. Harrison died in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

shortly after Confederation.

References

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''

External links

S. B. Harrison fonds
Archives of Ontario {{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Samuel Members of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada Premiers of the Province of Canada Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada West Judges in Canada West, Province of Canada Lawyers in Upper Canada and Canada West Politicians from Manchester English emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario 1802 births 1867 deaths Immigrants to Upper Canada Canadian justices of the peace