James Crowdy (1794 – April 17, 1867) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

-born official in

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. He was

Speaker of the House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador The Speaker of the House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador is the presiding officer of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly. The current Speaker of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly is Derek Bennett since April 12, 2 ...

from 1843-48. Crowdy served as

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

of the

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

and colonial secretary for

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

from 1814–20, when it became part of

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. In 1831, with his wife Elizabeth, he came to St. John's as clerk of the Council and colonial secretary for

. In 1832, he was named to the colony's Council. In 1836, Crowdy failed to ensure that the great seal was attached to the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

writs issued in that year, which led to the invalidation of the results of the election and undermined the authority of representative government in the colony. This was viewed with suspicion since Crowdy was opposed to representative government in Newfoundland. Around the same time, he married Caroline Augusta, the daughter of John Dunscombe; his first wife had died in 1836. In 1843, the elected assembly and appointed Council were combined and Crowdy was elected speaker. The assembly and Council became separate bodies again in 1848 and Crowdy was again named to the Council. He served briefly as colonial administrator in 1852. Crowdy resigned from the Council in 1855 and returned to England, where he died in 1867 at

Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the Sou ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crowdy, James Speakers of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly Newfoundland Colony people 1794 births 1867 deaths Place of birth unknown