Date Published:
March 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Edward Barron Chandler

Chandler, Edward Barron (1800-1880), one of the Fathers of Confederation, was born at Amherst, Nova Scotia, on August 22, 1800, the son of C. H. Chandler, of Cumberland, Nova Scotia, and the grandson of Joshua Chandler, of New Haven, Connecticut, a well-known loyalist. He studied law, and was called to the bar of New Brunswick in 1823. From 1827 to 1836 he represented Westmoreland in the House of Assembly of New Brunswick; and from 1836 to 1878 he was a member of the Legislative Council of the province. From 1844 to 1858 he was almost continuously a member of the Executive Council; and he was a member of the first administration of New Brunswick after Confederation, from 1867 to 1869. He took a prominent part in the negotiations leading up to Confederation and the construction of the Intercolonial Railway; and was a delegate from New Brunswick at the Charlottetown, Quebec, and London Conferences in 18646. In 1867 he was called, by royal proclamation, to the Senate of Canada, but declined the appointment. In 1868 he was appointed a commissioner for the construction of the Intercolonial Railway; and in 1878 he succeeded Sir Leonard Tilley as lieutenantgovernor of New Brunswick. He died, before the completion of his term of office, at Fredericton, New Brunswick, on February 6, 1880.

Source  : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. II, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 411p., pp. 32-33.