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1888 in Canada
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April 2026
October 2019
1888
Events from the year 1888 in Canada.
Incumbents
Crown
Monarch – VictoriaQueen Victoria The Canadian Encyclopedia https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/victoria# www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca 5 December 2022
Federal government
Governor General – Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice (until June 11) then Frederick Stanley
Prime Minister – John A. Macdonald
Chief Justice – William Johnstone Ritchie (New Brunswick)
Parliament – 6th
Provincial governments
Lieutenant governors
Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia – Hugh Nelson
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba – James Cox Aikins (until July 1) then John Christian Schultz
Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick – Samuel Leonard Tilley
Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia – Matthew Henry Richey (until July 8) then Archibald McLelan
Lieutenant Governor of Ontario – Alexander Campbell
Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island – Andrew Archibald Macdonald
Lieutenant Governor of Quebec – Auguste-Réal Angers
Premiers
Premier of British Columbia – Alexander Edmund Batson Davie
Premier of Manitoba – David Howard Harrison (until January 19) then Thomas Greenway
Premier of New Brunswick – Andrew George Blair
Premier of Nova Scotia – William Stevens Fielding
Premier of Ontario – Oliver Mowat
Premier of Prince Edward Island – William Wilfred Sullivan
Premier of Quebec – Honoré Mercier
Territorial governments
Lieutenant governors
Lieutenant Governor of Keewatin – James Cox Aikins (until July 1) then John Christian Schultz
Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories – Edgar Dewdney (until July 1) then Joseph Royal
Premiers
Chairman of the Lieutenant-Governor's Advisory Council of the North-West Territories – Robert Brett (from June 30)
Events
January 19 – Thomas Greenway becomes premier of Manitoba, replacing David H. Harrison.
June 20 – The North-West Territories holds its first general election; 22 members of the Legislative Assembly are elected. All are independents; there are no party politics in the territories.
July 11 – The Manitoba general election is held.
Full date unknown
Boundary survey started by Dr. William H. Dall of the United States and Dr. George M. Dawson of Canada.
Arts and literature
New books
Among the Millet: Archibald Lampman
Births
January to June
January 18 – Charles Gavan Power, politician, Minister and Senator (d.1968)
January 20 – Ethel Wilson, novelist and short story writer (d.1980)
February 28 – George Pearkes, politician, soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross (d.1984)
March 24 – Samuel Rosborough Balcom, politician (d.1981)
April 6 – Leonard Brockington, lawyer, civil servant and first head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) (d.1966)
April 8 – Dora Mavor Moore, actor, teacher and director (d.1979)
April 23
Joseph Georges Bouchard, politician (d.1956)
Georges Vanier, soldier, diplomat and Governor General of Canada (d.1967)
April 28 – Harry Crerar, General (d.1965)
May 3 – Johan Helders, photographer
July to December
July 11 – John Keiller MacKay, soldier, jurist and 19th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (d.1970)
August 3 – Margaret Murray, journalist
September 2 – Dorothy Stevens, artist
September 7 – William Bryce, politician
September 15 – Filip Konowal, soldier, Victoria Cross recipient in 1917 (d.1959)
September 18
Grey Owl, writer and conservationist (d.1938)
William Duncan Herridge, politician and diplomat (d.1961)
October 23 – Onésime Gagnon, politician and the 20th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d.1961)
November 3 – Joseph Oscar Lefebre Boulanger, politician and lawyer (d.1958)
November 11 – S. E. Rogers, politician (d.1965)
November 25 – Joseph W. Noseworthy, politician (d.1956)
December 2 – Major James Coldwell, politician (d.1974)
Deaths
January 17 – Big Bear, Cree leader (b. c1825)
February 4 – Sévère Rivard, lawyer, politician and 17th Mayor of Montreal (b.1834)
March 2 – William Elliott, farmer, merchant and politician (b.1834)
April 21 – Thomas White, journalist and politician (b.1830)
May 3 – William Alexander Henry, politician (b.1816)
May 12 – Élie Saint-Hilaire, educator, farmer and politician (b.1839)
May 30 – James Ferrier, merchant, politician and 4th Mayor of Montreal (b.1800)
August 4 – Charles-Joseph Coursol, lawyer, politician and 13th Mayor of Montreal (b.1819)
August 24 – John Rose, politician (b.1820)
October 1 – James Gibb Ross, merchant and politician (b.1819)
Historical documents
House of Commons committee hears of cartels conspiring to control products ranging from groceries to coal to stoves and coffinsReport of the Select Committee Appointed(...)to Investigate and Report upon Alleged Combinations in Manufactures, Trade and Insurance in Canada (May 16, 1888). Accessed 9 October 2020
Sandford Fleming's ideas on telegraph line to Australia"Pacific Cable Telegraph between Canada and Australia[...]," Privy Council Minutes, February 18–27, 1888, pgs. 331-5. Accessed 10 October 2019 http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/politics-government/orders-council/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=41533 (flip to pg. 331 and click on image to enlarge)
Indenture form between "Guardian" and caretaker/employer who agrees to pay immigrant boy and give him "good clothing and schooling" etc. for workYouth indenture form (Pursuant to March 9, 1888 Order in Council), Immigration Program: Headquarters central registry files: C-4709, Image 379 Library and Archives Canada. Accessed 26 May 2024
U.S. Supreme Court rules on Alexander Graham Bell's telephone patent in light of previous invention claimed by "a poor mechanic"Chief Justice Waite, "Telephone Cases (Part Three Three)" (March 18, 1888). Accessed 10 October 2020
Brief visit to Chinatown temple in Victoria, B.C.James Carmichael, A Holiday Trip; Montreal to Victoria and Return via the Canadian Pacific Railway[...] (1888), pgs. 28-9 Accessed 10 October 2019
In report on northern lands, Senate committee points out unwanted wildlife loss from "greater ease in their capture" and use of poisonSenate Committees, 6th Parliament, 2nd Session: Select Committee on Resources of the Great Mackenzie Basin, Vol. 1, pg. 13 Accessed 1 October 2020
Lecturer describes dogs of Hudson Strait InuitWm. A. Ashe, "The Eskimos of Hudson Straits," Lectures Given at the Quebec Garrison Club, 1888-9 (1889), pgs. 25-6, 43-5. Accessed 10 October 2019
References
1888 in
Category:Years of the 19th century in Canada
Canada
Category:1888 in North America