Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley (May 8, 1818June 25, 1896) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician and one of the Fathers of Confederation. Tilley was descended from

United Empire Loyalists United Empire Loyalists (or simply Loyalists) is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the Governor of Quebec, and Governor General of The Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North America duri ...

on both sides of his family. As a

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

, he went into business as a druggist.

Personal life

Born in

Gagetown, New Brunswick Gagetown (2016 population: 711) is a village in Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada. It is situated on the west bank of the Saint John River and is the county's shire town. History Acadians Gagetown was originally named Grimross by the Ac ...

, Tilley was the son of storekeeper Thomas Morgan Tilley and Susan Ann Peters. He was a descendant of

American loyalists Loyalists were colonists in the Thirteen Colonies who remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War, often referred to as Tories, Royalists or King's Men at the time. They were opposed by the Patriots, who supporte ...

on both sides of his family. On May 6, 1843 he married Julia Ann Hanford in

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...

; they had eight children. Hanford died in 1862, leaving Tilley a

widower A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has died. Terminology The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed ''widowhood''. An archaic term for a widow is "relict," literally "someone left over". This word can so ...

. On October 22, 1867, he married Alice Starr Chipman in

St. Stephen, New Brunswick St. Stephen (2016 population: 4,415) is a Canadian town in Charlotte County, New Brunswick, situated on the east bank of the St. Croix River around the intersection of New Brunswick Route 170 and the southern terminus of New Brunswick Route ...

; they had two children, including future New Brunswick premier Leonard Percy de Wolfe Tilley. Samuel Leonard Tilley died in 1896 on June 25.

Political career

Samuel Leonard Tilley entered politics as an activist in the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...

. As a result of the 1848 recession, caused in part by Britain's economic policies, he became an advocate for

responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive bran ...

. Tilley later joined the New Brunswick Colonial Association, which advocated for the colony's own control over its public expenses, the establishment of a

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

system, government control of public works, and "honest government" in general. Samuel Leonard Tilley

First elected to the

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) 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. It is the only province with both English and ...

Assembly as a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

in 1850, he sat in

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until the 1854 election swept the reformers to power. Tilley became Provincial Secretary in the government of Charles Fisher. In 1855 he persuaded the assembly to pass a prohibition law, but that proved a failure and was later repealed. He attended each of the

Charlottetown Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city in ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

Conferences as a supporter of

Canadian Confederation Canadian Confederation (french: Confédération canadienne, link=no) was the process by which three British North American provinces, the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, were united into one federation called the Canada, Dom ...

. He served as

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

of the

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

of New Brunswick from 1861 until his government was defeated in the election of 1865. As premier, he supported the New Brunswick's entry into Confederation and the construction of an intercolonial railway. A common tale states that Tilley was the originator of the word "Dominion" in

Canada's name While a variety of theories have been postulated for the name of Canada, its origin is now accepted as coming from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word , meaning 'village' or 'settlement'. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec C ...

. The Fathers of Confederation had been discussing what to prefix Canada with, Kingdom of Canada being Macdonald's preference. During morning devotions, in St Andrew's in the backyard of his cousin, Dr Samuel Tilley GOVE, (the editor's great-great-grandfather, who also has the Psalter used by Tilley), before the two of them headed down the street to Church, Tilley read Psalm 72:8, which states "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth", and presented this inspiration to the others, being as their ambition was to stretch the new nation to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and from the St Lawrence River to the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...

. "Dominion" had been used before, but Tilley pushed hard for it to be adopted in reference to Canada, despite Macdonald's preference. The term led to the naming of the July 1 national holiday; however, the reference to a unique Canadian historical development was discarded in 1982 when "

Canada Day Canada Day (french: Fête du Canada), formerly known as Dominion Day (french: Fête du Dominion), is the national day of Canada. A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 18 ...

", which had already been in use by most Canadians, was made official by an act of Parliament. In French, the date had long been known as ''la fête nationale'' (national feast or national birthday), a date which is often now applied to June 24 in Quebec, a date officially known as

Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day (french: Fête de la Saint-Jean-Baptiste, la Saint-Jean, Fête nationale du Québec), also known in English as ''St John the Baptist Day'', is a holiday celebrated on June 24 in the Canadian province of Quebec Que ...

. Tilley entered federal politics with Confederation in 1867 and served in the federal cabinet as Minister of Customs. He became

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

in 1873 and served until the defeat of the government later that year. He was appointed the fourth

Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick The lieutenant governor of New Brunswick (, in French: ''Lieutenant-gouverneur'' (if male) or ''Lieutenante-gouverneure'' (if female) ''du Nouveau-Brunswick'') is the viceregal representative in New Brunswick of the , who operates distinctly wit ...

in 1873 and served until 1878. When Macdonald's Tories returned to power in 1878, Tilley was elected member for Saint John and again became minister of finance; while in that office he introduced protective tariffs which became the basis of Canadian financial policy. He served in cabinet until his retirement from politics in 1885, when he was again appointed the

seventh Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven. Seventh may refer to: * Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution * A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts Film and television *"The Seventh", a second-season epi ...

. The

Sir Leonard Tilley Building The Sir Leonard Tilley Building and Annex (french: Édifice Sir-Leonard-Tilley), is a Government of Canada office building property consisting of two buildings and operated by the Public Works and Government Services Canada and located at 719 Her ...

was named in his honour. He is interred in the

Fernhill Cemetery Fernhill Cemetery, known as the Rural Cemetery when it opened in 1848, is located at 200 Westmorland Road in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Renamed Fernhill in 1899, the 125 acre (0.5 km2) cemetery has a special section for veterans of ...

Family

Lady Alice Tilley by William James Topley

Hon. Samuel Leonard Tilley, C.B., then Minister of Customs, married his second wife on October 20, 1867. Alice Starr Chipman was the daughter of ship owner (The Cedars) Zachariah Chipman and his wife Mary Eliza. The couple had two sons Herbert Chipman Tilley, born September 6, 1868, and Leonard Percy DeWolfe Tilley, born May 21, 1870. In July 1884, he and his wife were presented to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, at Osborne, by the Princess Louise. The couple were activists in the

. During the 13 years the couple lived at Government House, Fredericton no intoxicants were in use at their entertainments. Alice was instrumental in the founding of the Victoria College Hospital at

Fredericton, New Brunswick Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...

. She helped found the Industrial School for Boys, the Nurses`Home, the Seamen`s Mission and the Home for Consumptives at

. The Chipman homestead in

was donated by the heirs of the estate in 1902 to found the Chipman Memorial Hospital. Alice was a founding member of the National Council of Women and served as President of the St John Local Council of Women.

Notes

References

* * * * *

External links

Queens County Heritage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tilley, Samuel 1818 births 1896 deaths Canadian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Canadian Ministers of Finance Fathers of Confederation Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs Canadian Companions of the Order of the Bath Lieutenant Governors of New Brunswick Members of the House of Commons of Canada from New Brunswick Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Premiers of New Brunswick People from Queens County, New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick MLAs Canadian temperance activists Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Colony of New Brunswick people