Little, Philip Francis National Historic Person

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
Portrait of Philip Francis Little (© None; Source: D.W. Prowse, A History of Newfoundland from the English, Colonial, and Foreign Records, 2nd edition (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1896) 464.)
Philip Francis Little
(© None; Source: D.W. Prowse, A History of Newfoundland from the English, Colonial, and Foreign Records, 2nd edition (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1896) 464.)
Address : St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

Recognition Statute: Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date: 2007-06-08
Life Date: 1824 to 1897

Other Name(s):
  • Little, Philip Francis  (Designation Name)
Research Report Number: 2006-026

Importance: First premier of the colony of Newfoundland under responsible government

Plaque(s)


No plaque in place, recommended location: Colonial Building St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

Following his election to the Assembly in 1850, Little persistently campaigned for responsible government, unifying the Liberal Party and a majority of the people of Newfoundland behind this cause. In 1855, a year after responsible government was granted to the colony, he became its first prime minister and attorney general. During his brief tenure in office, Little helped advance Newfoundland's interests and autonomy through the Reciprocity Treaty with the United States and led the colony's unanimous condemnation of the proposed fisheries convention between Britain and France.