Wilmot, Robert Duncan

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: W. A. Spray, “WILMOT, ROBERT DUNCAN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 12, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/wilmot_robert_duncan_12E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Businessman, politician, and lieutenant governor; b. 16 Oct. 1809 in Fredericton, son of John McNeil Wilmot and Susanna (Susan) Harriet Wiggins; m. 17 Dec. 1833 Susannah (Susan) Elizabeth Mowat of St Andrews, N.B., and they had seven children; d. 13 Feb. 1891 at Belmont, his estate in Sunbury County, N.B.
    • When Robert Duncan Wilmot was about five years old, his family moved to Saint John where his father became a prominent merchant and shipowner. Young Wilmot was educated in local schools and then entered his father’s business. He spent the years 1835–40 in Liverpool, England, representing the firm. After his return he was involved in the construction of mills, ships, and railways, and was one of the promoters of Saint John as the metropolis of New Brunswick. A member of the board of the New-Brunswick Colonial Association and a director of the European and North American Railway, he is considered by historian Thomas William Acheson to have been one of the 40 merchants who “dominated the commercial life of the city between 1820 and 1850.”
    • Wilmot was first elected to the assembly in October 1846 for Saint John County and City, and he took over from his cousin Lemuel Allan Wilmot the role of spokesman for provincial interests favouring protectionist trade policies. He served in the house continuously for 15 years before being defeated in 1861. Re-elected in 1865, he remained a member of the assembly until confederation.
    • Following his defeat in the 1861 contest, which renewed the Reformers’ mandate, Wilmot retired to Belmont, where he concentrated on raising cattle and swine. In 1865 he re-entered politics and in March was elected as an anti-confederate. In attempting to form a government after this election, Lieutenant Governor called first on George Luther Hatheway, who declined the honour, and then on Albert James Smith and Wilmot, who accepted. Wilmot, a member of the executive without portfolio, found himself overshadowed by Smith and Timothy Warren Anglin. This weak government, which was described in the newspapers as a “queer admixture of Tories and Liberals,” was united only in its desire to stop New Brunswick’s entry into confederation under the terms proposed at the Quebec conference of 1864. Many of its members favoured some sort of union, but they could not agree on the type: a number, like Smith, favoured the reservation of much more power for the provinces than the Quebec terms gave; others, like Wilmot, felt the provinces should be stripped of almost all their authority. As early as 1858 he had voiced his hope for a union that would eliminate provincial legislatures.
    • Wilmot was an honest, able man with a strong personality who saw himself as a leader, although in the Smith and the Tilley-Mitchell governments he was overshadowed. Never an eloquent speaker, he was none the less a capable administrator and an efficient public servant. He was a rather cold man who was not widely liked. His frequent changes of view did not make him popular with more committed politicians, and historians.
  • Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=9159
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/138345081/robert_duncan-wilmot