Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick D. White (February 16, 1847 – September 27, 1918) was a Canadian civil servant who served as the first
commissioner of the Northwest Territories
The commissioner of the Northwest Territories (french: Commissaire des Territoires du Nord-Ouest) is the Government of Canada's representative in the Northwest Territories. Similar in certain functions to a lieutenant governor, the commissioner s ...
.
Born in
Birmingham, White immigrated to Canada in 1862 at the age of 15, and worked for some time for the
Grand Trunk Railway at
Montreal. He entered the Canadian
Department of Justice in 1869 as a third-class clerk, becoming Chief Clerk in 1876. He was later transferred to the Department of the
Secretary of State, where he was made the clerk in charge of the
North-West Mounted Police
The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territory ...
in 1876.
In 1880 he was appointed private secretary to
Sir John A. Macdonald
Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...
. The same year he was appointed Comptroller of the NWMP, holding the post until 1913.
In 1883 he was given the rank of
Deputy Minister (Secretary of State). In the
1902 Coronation Honours
The 1902 Coronation Honours were announced on 26 June 1902, the date originally set for the coronation of King Edward VII. The coronation was postponed because the King had been taken ill two days before, but he ordered that the honours list shou ...
he was appointed a
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III.
...
.
On August 24, 1905, White was appointed the first
Commissioner of the Northwest Territories
The commissioner of the Northwest Territories (french: Commissaire des Territoires du Nord-Ouest) is the Government of Canada's representative in the Northwest Territories. Similar in certain functions to a lieutenant governor, the commissioner s ...
, and held the office until his death on September 27, 1918.
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References
External links
History of the north
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Frederic
Commissioners of the Northwest Territories
1847 births
1918 deaths
Canadian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
English emigrants to Canada