Haviland, Thomas Heath

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Andrew Robb, “HAVILAND, THOMAS HEATH (1822-95),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 12, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/haviland_thomas_heath_1822_95_12E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Lawyer, politician, militia officer, landowner, and lieutenant governor; b. 13 Nov. 1822 in Charlottetown, son of Thomas Heath Haviland and Jane Rebecca Brecken; m. 5 Jan. 1847 Anne Elizabeth Grubbe, daughter of John Grubbe of Horsenden House, Buckinghamshire, England; d. 11 Sept. 1895 in Charlottetown.
    • For most of the 19th century, the Haviland name in Prince Edward Island was associated with wealth, political influence, and the tory cause. The young Haviland was far from typical among the generation of Islanders born in the early 1820s. His father was rapidly advancing in office, being named to the Council in 1823 and designated colonial treasurer in 1830, and he used his resources and position to advantage in becoming, by the 1840s, a major landowner. As a result, Thomas Heath Jr was sent abroad for a private education in Belgium. 
    • He was returned to the House of Assembly from the Kings County riding of Georgetown and Royalty. The constituency was a natural choice for him since his father was an important landowner in rural Kings, and it was intended that young Haviland should work as an agent on the family lands. He would represent the riding until 1870, when he was elected to the Legislative Council for Queens County, 3rd District. He was returned to the assembly for Georgetown in 1873 and held the seat until 1876.
    • Confederation, however, was a different matter. When, at Charlottetown in 1864, the attention of Maritimers was turned to the possibility of a broader federation, Haviland became perhaps the most ardent and consistent of the Island confederates. Wider nationhood, economic growth, and defence against the republic were the main elements of his rhetoric. In Charlottetown he proclaimed that “the Provinces would, ere long, be one great country or nation, from the Pacific to the Atlantic.” In Quebec, as a delegate from the Island, he was warmly received in a banquet speech when he proclaimed, “The despotism now prevailing over our border was greater than even that of Russia . . . Liberty in the States was altogether a delusion, a mockery and a snare. No man there could express an opinion unless [he] agreed with the opinion of the majority.” He concluded by emphasizing his belief in the power of railways, “an iron band . . . to unite the colonies.”
    • Prince Edward Island entered confederation on 1 July 1873, and Haviland, as his reward for good service rendered, entered the Senate of the dominion in the same year. The railway whistle, which in some ways was the keynote of the confederation debate on the Island, was, in Haviland’s words, “as welcome to him as the song of the robin.” It was certainly a harbinger of change for the Island.
  • Great Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=844
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/103137324/thomas-heath-haviland