Wentworth (Province of Canada electoral district)

Wentworth
Canada West
Province of Canada electoral district
Defunct pre-Confederation electoral district
LegislatureLegislative Assembly of the Province of Canada
District created1841
District abolished1867
First contested1841
Last contested1851

Wentworth was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada West (now Ontario). It was created in 1841, upon the establishment of the Province of Canada by the union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada. Wentworth was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly. In 1853, it was split into two ridings, Wentworth North and Wentworth South.

Boundaries

Wentworth electoral district was based on Wentworth county (now part of the city of Hamilton), at the northwestern end of Lake Ontario. Hamilton and Burlington were the two major centres.

The Union Act, 1840 merged the two provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada, with a single Parliament. The separate parliaments of Lower Canada and Upper Canada were abolished.[1] The Union Act provided that the pre-existing electoral boundaries of Upper Canada would continue to be used in the new Parliament, unless altered by the Union Act itself.[2]

Wentworth county had been an electoral district in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada,[3] and its boundaries were not altered by the Union Act. Those boundaries had originally been set by statute in 1816, when Wentworth county was created as a separate county in the new district of Gore, carved out of the existing Niagara and Home districts. Wentworth country was defined to include:

That the township of Saltfleet, Barton, Benbrook, Glanford, Ancaster and the Beach between Burlington Bay and Lake Ontario, and the Promontory near Coot's Paradise, and so much of the County of Haldimand as lies between Dundas Street and the Onondaga village, commonly called Bear's Foot, including said village,shall from henceforth form and be called the County of Wentworth...[4]

Since Wentworth was not changed by the Union Act, those boundaries continued to be used for the new electoral district. Wentworth was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.[2]

Members of the Legislative Assembly

The following were the members for Wentworth.

Parliament Years Members[5] Party[6]
1st Parliament
1841–1844 		1841–1844 Harmannus Smith Unionist; Moderate Reformer

Abolition

Wentworth electoral district was abolished in 1853, when there was a major redistribution of seats in the Legislative Assembly. Wentworth was split into two new ridings, Wentworth North and Wentworth South. The abolition took effect in the general election of 1854.[7]

References

  1. ^ Union Act, 1840, 3 & 4 Vict. (UK), c. 35, s. 2.
  2. ^ a b Union Act, 1840, s. 16.
  3. ^ Journal of the House of Assembly of Upper Canada, from the eighth day of November, 1836, to the fourth day of March, 1837, p. 15 (November 8, 1836).
  4. ^ An Act to erect and form a new District out of Certain parts of the Home and Niagara Districts, to be called the District of Gore, SUC 1816, c. 20, s. 11.
  5. ^ J.O. Côté, Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada, 1841 to 1860, (Quebec: St. Michel and Darveau, 1860), pp. 43-58.
  6. ^ For party affiliations, see Paul G. Cornell, Alignment of Political Groups in Canada, 1841-67 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962; reprinted in paperback 2015), pp. 93-111.
  7. ^ An Act to enlarge the Representation of the People of this Province in Parliament, SProvCan 1853, c 152, s. 2(11).