Benjamin Tett (Feb 14, 1798 - May 15, 1878) was an

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

businessman and political figure. He represented

Leeds South Leeds South was a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1904. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867 which divided the Coun ...

as a Conservative member of the

1st Parliament of Ontario The 1st Parliament of Ontario was in session from September 3, 1867, until February 25, 1871, just prior to the 1871 general election. This was the first session of the Legislature after Confederation succeeding the Legislative Assembly of the Pr ...

. He was born in

Hinton St. George Hinton St George is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated outside Crewkerne Crewkerne ( ) is a town and electoral ward in Somerset, England, southwest of Yeovil and east of Chard all in the South Somerset district. The civil p ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1798, the son of John Tett who manufactured cloth for ships' sails, and came to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of 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 ...

in 1820, later moving to Newboro. He served on the district council of the Johnstown District representing North Crosby. Around 1830, he set up a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where 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 (dimensi ...

north of

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

at Bedford Mills, anticipating the completion of the

Rideau Canal The Rideau Canal, also known unofficially as the Rideau Waterway, connects Canada's capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, to Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River at Kingston. It is 202 kilometres long. The name ''Rideau'', French for "curtain", ...

. In partnership with the Chaffey family and others, he established a booming timber business in the area. He also constructed a

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 Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

and opened a general store. In 1833, he married Julianna Poole. Tett ran unsuccessfully in Leeds for a seat in the legislative assembly of

in 1838. He was again unsuccessful when he ran for the South

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

seat in the

Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the legislature for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper C ...

in 1854 but went on to represent South Leeds in the assembly from 1858 to 1863. In 1863, he was defeated by

Albert Norton Richards Albert Norton Richards, (December 8, 1821 – March 6, 1897) was a Canadian lawyer and political figure. He represented Leeds South in the House of Commons of Canada as a Liberal member from 1872 to 1874. He served as the second Lieutenant ...

for the same seat. Tett also served as a justice of the peace. His daughter Elizabeth married doctor Robert Henry Preston, who later represented South Leeds in the provincial assembly. His great-grandson

John Tett John Kearns Tett, & (1916 – 1974) was a Canadian athlete, wartime military pilot, physical fitness educator, and public servant. In the 1950s, he fathered the 5BX (Five Basic Exercises) fitness program developed for the Royal Canadian Air For ...

is the namesake of Kingston's Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning.

Electoral history

References

External links

''History of Leeds and Grenville'', Thaddeus William Henry Leavitt
*
Member's parliamentary history for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
1798 births 1878 deaths Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada West Pre-Confederation Canadian businesspeople English emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario Politicians from Somerset People from Leeds and Grenville United Counties Immigrants to Upper Canada {{ProgressiveConservative-Ontario-MPP-stub