Chatham is a geographic parish in Northumberland County,

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. For governance purposes it is divided between the city of Miramichi and the Greater Miramichi rural district, both of which are members of the Greater Miramichi Regional Service Commission. Prior to the 2023 governance reform, all of the parish outside the city formed the

local service district Local service district may refer to these administrative units in Canada: * Local service district (New Brunswick) A local service district (LSD) was a provincial administrative unit for the provision of local services in the Canadian province o ...

of the parish of Chatham.

Origin of name

The parish was named in honour of the

Earl of Chatham Earl of Chatham, of Chatham in the County of Kent, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1766 for William Pitt the Elder on his appointment as Lord Privy Seal, along with the subsidiary title of Viscount Pitt, of Burton ...

, a title held at the time by General John Pitt, or for his father, former

British Prime Minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet, and selects its ministers. Modern pri ...

Pitt the Elder William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (15 November 170811 May 1778) was a British Whig statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1766 to 1768. Historians call him "Chatham" or "Pitt the Elder" to distinguish him from his son Wi ...

. The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick gives British Prime Minister

Pitt the Younger William Pitt (28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806) was a British statesman who served as the last prime minister of Great Britain from 1783 until the Acts of Union 1800, and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom from January 1801. He left o ...

as the inspiration of the name, but erroneously gives him the title of Earl of Chatham, which he never held. He died in office in 1806. Six of the nine Northumberland County parishes erected simultaneously in 1814 were named for military figures of the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

or British politicians associated with the military. The strongest case for the parish's

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

might be General Pitt, who was

Master-General of the Ordnance The Master-General of the Ordnance (MGO) was a very senior British military position from 1415 to 2013 (except 1855–1895 and 1939–1958) with some changes to the name, usually held by a serving general. The Master-General of the Ordnance was ...

for most of the Napoleonic Wars and closely involved with planning Britain's coastal defenses. General Pitt was influential enough to be offered the Portugal command that later went to

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (; 1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was a British Army officer and statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures in Britain during t ...

History

Chatham was erected in 1814 from Newcastle Parish but did not include the modern Douglasfield and Chatham Head areas, which were in neighbouring Nelson Parish until 1850. Book was poorly proofread, resulting in title typo and reuse of page numbers 145–152.

Boundaries

Chatham Parish is bounded: Remainder of parish on maps 61, 69, and 70 at same site. Remainder of parish on mapbooks 190 and 204 at same site. * on the northwest and north by the

Miramichi River The Miramichi River is a river located in the east-central part of New Brunswick, Canada. The river drains into Miramichi Bay in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The name may have been derived from the Montagnais words "Maissimeu Assi" (meaning Mi'km ...

; * on the east by Napan Bay; * on the south by a line beginning at the mouth of Napan River and running upstream to the westernmost corner of a grant to Henry Coils in Glenelg Parish, about 300 metres east of the junction of Searle Road and North Napan Road and about 400 metres north of the junction of Hannah Hill Road and Weldfield Collette Road, then running south 68º west to a point about 375 metres east of Sutton Road and about 75 metres north of Carding Mill Brook; * on the southwest, beginning north of Carding Mill Brook, then running northwesterly along the prolongation of the southwestern line of a grant to William Brown Sr. and the grant itself to a cove northeasterly of the junction of Rasche Street and St. Patrick's Drive, then into the Miramichi River; * including Middle Island in the Miramichi.

Evolution of boundaries

In 1814 the western line was about 300 metres west of Harper Road, along the western line of a grant to William McCallum and its prolongation inland. The southern boundary ran eight miles up the River from its mouth, "or until it intersects the before mentioned line ..forming the rear of the said Parishes of

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

and Carleton".Uses of

long s The long s, , also known as the medial ''s'' or initial ''s'', is an Archaism, archaic form of the lowercase letter , found mostly in works from the late 8th to early 19th centuries. It replaced one or both of the letters ''s'' in a double-''s ...

in the text have been modernised for readability. If the line continues along the Northwest Branch rather than the main body of the river then eight miles from the mouth of the Napan is roughly where the prolongation of the McCallum grant strikes the Napan. In 1850 the parish was extended west to its modern boundary and the southern boundary was altered slightly, establishing the modern boundaries. Several pieces of territory on either side of the river were exchanged with Glenelg.

Communities

Communities at least partly within the parish. bold indicates an incorporated municipality * L ower Napan * Upper Napan * Miramichi ** Bushville ** Chatham ** Chatham Head * Miramichi ** Curtis Park ** Douglasfield ** Loggieville ** Lower Chatham Head ** Morrison Cove

Bodies of water

Bodies of waterNot including brooks, ponds or coves. at least partly within the parish. *

* Napan River * Chatham Lake * Chatham Reservoir * Napan Bay

Islands

Islands at least partly within the parish. * Middle Island

Other notable places

Parks, historic sites, and other noteworthy places at least partly within the parish. *

CFB Chatham Canadian Forces Base Chatham or CFB Chatham was a Canadian Forces Base located immediately south of the town of Chatham, New Brunswick, Canada. Parts are now operating as Miramichi Municipal Airport since 1974 with a partial runway available ...

* Miramichi Airport

Demographics

Parish population total does not include portion within 2021 boundaries of Miramichi. Revised census figures based on the 2023 local governance reforms have not been released.

Population

Population trendStatistics Canada:

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

census

Language

Mother tongue (2016)

Notes

References

{{coord, 47, 02, 42, N, 65, 22, 12, W, name=Chatham Parish, New Brunswick, display=title, region:CA-NB_type:adm3rd_scale:100000 Parishes of Northumberland County, New Brunswick Local service districts of Northumberland County, New Brunswick