William Frederick DesBarres (1800 – June 1885) was a lawyer, judge and political figure in

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 ...

, Canada. He represented Guysborough County in the

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (french: Assemblée législative de la Nouvelle-Écosse; gd, Taigh Seanaidh Alba Nuadh), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia of the province of Nova Scotia ...

from 1836 to 1848 as a Reformer. He was born in Elysian,

Cumberland County, Nova Scotia Cumberland County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. History The name Cumberland was applied by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Monckton to the captured Fort Beauséjour on June 18, 1755 in honour of the third son of King George II ...

, the son of John DesBarres. DesBarres studied law with

Lewis Morris Wilkins Lewis Morris Wilkins (May 24, 1801 – March 15, 1885) was a lawyer, judge and political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented Windsor Township from 1833 to 1838 and from 1852 to 1856 and Hants County from 1843 to 1847 in the Nova Scotia Hou ...

and

Hiram Blanchard Hiram Blanchard (January 17, 1820 – December 17, 1874) was a Nova Scotia lawyer, politician, and the first premier of Nova Scotia. Blanchard won election to the Nova Scotia legislative assembly in Inverness in 1859 as a Liberal. Early li ...

, was admitted to the Nova Scotia bar in 1822 and set up practice in

Guysborough Guysborough (population: 397) is an unincorporated Canadian community in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia. Located on the western shore of Chedabucto Bay, fronting Guysborough Harbour, it is the administrative seat of the Guysborough municipa ...

. He married Maria Cutler, the daughter of Robert M. Cutler, in 1825. In 1830, he was named probate judge for Sydney County. DesBarres served in the province's Executive Council as Solicitor General. He was named to the

Supreme Court of Nova Scotia The Nova Scotia Supreme Court is a superior court in the province of Nova Scotia. The Supreme Court consists of 25 judicial seats including the position of Chief Justice and Associate Chief Justice. At any given time there may be one or more addit ...

in 1848 and served until 1881. DesBarres died in Halifax.

References

Marble, AE ''Nova Scotians at home and abroad: biographical sketches ...'' (1977)
pp 137–8
Hart, HC ''History of the county of Guysborough'' (1975)
p. 107 W.F. DesBarres built an Egyptian Revival style home in the heart of Guysborough in 1837. The home still stands in the community and was restored as a luxury inn in 2004. You can read more about the home at th
DesBarres Manor Inn
website. {{DEFAULTSORT:DesBarres, William F 1800 births 1885 deaths Nova Scotia Reformer MLAs Colony of Nova Scotia judges