Bothwell (Canadian electoral district)

Bothwell
Ontario electoral district
Defunct federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
District created	1867
District abolished	1903
First contested	1867
Last contested	1900

Bothwell was a federal electoral district in the Canadian province of Ontario, which was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1904. It is sometimes also considered one of Ontario's historic counties, as it was listed in some post-Confederation census records as a county of residence.

District

At its creation in 1867, Bothwell consisted of the Kent County townships of Bothwell, Camden, Dresden, Howard, Orford, Ridgetown, Thamesville and Zone, and the Lambton County townships of Dawn, Euphemia and Sombra. In 1882, the Townships of Euphemia, Orford and Howard were excluded from the riding, and the township of Chatham, the villages of Wallaceburg, Dresden and Thamesville, and the town of Bothwell were added to the riding.

The electoral district was abolished in 1903 when it was redistributed between Kent East, Kent West, Simcoe East and Simcoe South ridings.

Members of Parliament

This riding elected the following members of the House of Commons of Canada:

Parliament	Years		Party
1st	1867–1872	David Mills	Liberal
2nd	1872–1874
3rd	1874–1876
3rd	1876–1878
4th	1878–1882
5th	1882–1884	John Joseph Hawkins	Liberal–Conservative
5th	1884–1887	David Mills	Liberal
6th	1887–1891
7th	1891–1896
8th	1896–1900	James Clancy	Conservative
9th	1900–1904	James Clancy	Conservative
Riding dissolved into Kent East, Kent West, Simcoe East and Simcoe South

Election results

1867 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	David Mills	1,333
	Conservative	David Glass	1,224
Source: Canadian Elections Database^[1]

1872 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	David Mills	1,727
	Unknown	C. R. Atkinson	1,135

1874 Canadian federal election: Bothwell
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	David Mills	1,600
	Unknown	? Dobbyn	1,137

Mr. David Mills was appointed Minister of the Interior and Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, 24 October 1876:

Party		Candidate	Votes
By-election on 15 November 1876
	Liberal	David Mills	1,650
	Unknown	James Dawson	1,142

1878 Canadian federal election: Bothwell
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	David Mills	1,852
	Liberal–Conservative	John Joseph Hawkins

1882 Canadian federal election: Bothwell
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Liberal–Conservative	John Joseph Hawkins	1,520
	Liberal	David Mills	1,504

Election declared void Mr. J.J. Hawkins was declared not duly elected and was unseated by judgement of Supreme Court. The seat was awarded to his opponent, 25 February 1884: