Tilley, Sir Samuel Leonard National Historic Person

Gagetown, New Brunswick
Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, M.P. © Topley Studio / Library and Archives Canada / PA-025599
Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley
© Topley Studio / Library and Archives Canada / PA-025599
Hon. Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, M.P. © Topley Studio / Library and Archives Canada / PA-026702Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, M.P. © Topley Studio / Library and Archives Canada / PA-025599
Address : Gagetown, New Brunswick

Recognition Statute: Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date: 1937-05-20
Life Date: 1818 to 1896

Other Name(s):
  • Tilley, Sir Samuel Leonard  (Designation Name)

Importance: Father of confederation, federal cabinet minister (1867-73)

Plaque(s)


Existing plaque: in Post Office Gagetown, New Brunswick

Born here in 1818, Tilley was first elected M.L.A. for Saint John in 1850 and subsequently served on the Executive Council and as leader of the provincial government. A delegate to the Charlottetown, Quebec and London Conferences, he was an architect of the B.N.A. Act, and later leader of the pro-Confederation forces in New Brunswick. He held federal cabinet portfolios in 1867-73 and 1878-85 and, as Minister of Finance, drafted the National Policy measures. He was Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, 1873-78 and 1885-93, and was created a K.C.M.G. in 1879. He died at Saint John, New Brunswick.