George Crawford (1793 – July 4, 1870) was a founding member of the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the B ...

. A Conservative, he was appointed to the Senate on 23 October 1867 by Royal Proclamation, and served in that capacity until his death. He was born in County Leitrim in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in 1793 and came to

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 the 1820s. After moving to

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, (later

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

), he became a contractor in construction and worked on the Rideau, Cornwall and Beauharnois canals. He served as lieutenant-colonel in the Leeds militia. He was also president of the

Brockville and Ottawa Railway The Brockville and Ottawa Railway (B&O) was an early railway in Upper Canada, today's Ontario. It ran north from the town of Brockville on the Saint Lawrence River to Sand Point on the Ottawa River. It was built primarily to serve the timber tra ...

. Around 1844, he moved to Brockville. He was elected to 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 ...

representing Brockville in 1851 and 1854. In 1858, he was elected to the Legislative Council, the upper house at that time, and served until 1867, when he became a member of the Senate of Canada. One son, John Willoughby, was elected to the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

and served as

Lieutenant Governor of Ontario The lieutenant governor of Ontario (, in French: ''Lieutenant-gouverneur'' (if male) or ''Lieutenante-gouverneure'' (if female) ''de l'Ontario'') is the viceregal representative in Ontario of the , who operates distinctly within the province bu ...

. His son

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

represented Brockville in the House of Commons.

References

*
Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, George 1793 births 1870 deaths Irish emigrants to pre-Confederation Ontario Canadian senators from Ontario Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) senators Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada West Members of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada Politicians from Toronto Immigrants to Upper Canada