James Webster (May 28, 1808 – February 6, 1869) was a Scottish-born political figure in

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the ...

. He represented West Halton and then Waterloo 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 ...

from 1844 to 1848 as a Conservative. He was born in Balruddery,

Forfar Forfar ( sco, Farfar, gd, Baile Fharfair) is the county town of Angus, Scotland and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town has a p ...

, the son of James Webster, 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 1833. With Adam Fergusson, Webster founded the village of Fergus. He was named a commissioner for Nichol Township in 1835 and later served as a district councillor for the township; he was also a commissioner for the Court of Requests. Webster married Margaret Wilson in 1838. His reelection to the provincial assembly in 1848 was appealed by Fergusson Blair and Webster did not run for reelection. In 1852, he moved to

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

. Webster ran for the North Wellington seat in 1857 and again in an 1859 by-election but was unsuccessful. He was elected mayor of Guelph in 1859. Later that same year, he was appointed registrar for Wellington County. Webster also served in the local militia, reaching the rank of lieutenant-colonel.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, James 1808 births 1869 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada West Mayors of Guelph