Wilkins, Lewis Morris Jr.

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Lois K. Kernaghan, “WILKINS, LEWIS MORRIS (1801-85),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 11, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/wilkins_lewis_morris_1801_85_11E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Lawyer, politician, and judge; b. 24 May 1801 in Halifax, N.S., son of Lewis Morris Wilkins and Sarah Creighton; d. 15 March 1885 at Windsor, N.S.
    • Born into an influential loyalist and Church of England family, Lewis Morris Wilkins was educated in Windsor at King’s Collegiate School and at King’s College, graduating ba in 1819. He was noted for his quick temper, and once attacked his college roommate, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, with a poker. After graduating, he read law with William Fraser of Windsor, was admitted to the bar in 1823, and practised in that community until 1856. On 30 Jan. 1828 Wilkins married Sarah Rachel Thomas, reputedly the most beautiful young lady in the province at that time; their three children all predeceased him.
    • In 1833 Wilkins stood as the Tory candidate for Windsor Township; the outcome of the election was disputed, but a legislative committee speedily awarded him the seat. A staunch Tory, Wilkins became one of Joseph Howe’s most eloquent foes after the latter’s entry into the assembly in 1837.
    • Wilkins made little political progress during the following years because the centre of political action was clearly becoming the elective assembly; in 1843 he resigned from the council to run for an assembly seat for Hants County as a reformer who supported Howe. Once elected, however, he reverted to his former conservatism, denouncing the movement towards responsible government and labelling Howe “essentially a low blackguard.”
    • On 14 Aug. 1856 he replaced T. C. Haliburton as a puisne judge of the Supreme Court, and his vacant assembly seat went by acclamation to the recently defeated Howe. 
  • Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=13730
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/197929241/lewis_morris-wilkins