1861 Newfoundland general election

1861 Newfoundland general election

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30 seats of the Newfoundland House of Assembly 16 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Hugh Hoyles John Kent Party Conservative Liberal Leader since 1855 1858 Leader's seat Burin [a] St. John's East Last election 12 18 Seats won 16 [b] 14 Seat change 4 4 Popular vote 84 [c] 5,184 Percentage 1.50% 92.52% Swing 28.65% 22.67%
Premier before election Hugh Hoyles Conservative Premier after election Hugh Hoyles Conservative

The 1861 Newfoundland general election was held on May 2, 1861 to elect the members of the 8th General Assembly of Newfoundland in the Newfoundland Colony. It was triggered following the forced resignation of Premier John Kent by Governor Alexander Bannerman after Kent accused Bannerman of colluding with the Conservative Party. Bannerman had appointed Conservative leader Hugh Hoyles as the new Premier, but Kent quickly passed a motion of non-confidence against Hoyles' administration, forcing Bannerman to call an election.

The election was fraught with sectarian tensions. Most districts went uncontested for fear of violence. Riots prevented an election from occurring in the district of Harbour Grace. A violent confrontation broke out in Salmon Cove within the Harbour Main district, killing one man and injuring nine others, and the returns for that district were subsequently invalidated by the House of Assembly. A political deadlock ensued, and no party controlled the legislature until a by-election held in Harbour Grace in November 1861 finally gave Hoyles' Conservatives a majority government. Ambrose Shea subsequently became the leader of the Liberal Party.

Results

	Party	Leader	1859	Candidates	Seats won	Seat change	% of seats (% change)	Popular vote	% of vote (% change)
	Conservative	Hugh Hoyles	12	15	16 [b]	4	53.33% (13.33%)	84 [c]	1.50% (28.65%)
	Liberal	John Kent	18	18	14	4	46.67% (13.33%)	5,184 [d]	92.52% (22.67%)
	Other		0	1	0		0.00% ()	335	5.98% (5.98%)
Totals			30	34	30		100%	5,603 [e]	100%

Results by district

• Names in boldface type represent party leaders.
• † indicates that the incumbent did not run again.
• ‡ indicates that the incumbent ran in a different district.
• $ indicates that the incumbent was initially nominated for re-election, but they later chose to withdraw from the race.

St. John's

Electoral district	Candidates				Incumbent
	Liberal (historical)		Other
St. John's East		John Kavanagh 1,489 33.70%		Samuel Archibald (Independent) 335 7.58%		John Kent
		Robert Parsons 1,309 29.62%				John Kavanagh
		John Kent 1,286 29.10%				Robert Parsons
St. John's West [f]		John Casey Won by acclamation				John Casey
		Thomas Talbot Won by acclamation				Thomas Dwyer†
		Henry Renouf Won by acclamation				Pierce Barron$

Conception Bay

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
	Conservative (historical)		Liberal (historical)		Other
Bay de Verde		John Bemister Won by acclamation						John Bemister
Carbonear		[g]		Edmund Hanrahan Won by acclamation				Edmund Hanrahan
Harbour Grace [h]		[i]		John Hayward No returns declared				John Hayward
				James Prendergast No returns declared				James Prendergast
Harbour Main [2] [j]				George Hogsett 316 24.82%		Patrick Nowlan (Independent Liberal) [k] 325 25.53%		Patrick Nowlan
				Charles Furey 310 24.35%		Thomas Byrne (Independent Liberal) [k] 322 25.29%		Charles Furey
Port de Grave		John Leamon Won by acclamation						John Leamon

Avalon Peninsula

Electoral district	Candidates				Incumbent
	Conservative (historical)		Liberal (historical)
Ferryland [3]		John White 84 7.09%		Edward Shea 571 48.23%		Thomas Glen
				Thomas Glen 529 44.68%		Edward Shea
Placentia and St. Mary's				Ambrose Shea Won by acclamation		George Hogsett‡ (ran in Harbour Main)
				William Flood Won by acclamation		John English†
				Richard McGrath Won by acclamation		Richard McGrath

Eastern and Central Newfoundland

Electoral district	Candidates		Incumbent
	Conservative (historical)
Bonavista Bay		Stephen March Won by acclamation		Stephen March
		John Warren Won by acclamation		John Warren
		Matthew Walbank Won by acclamation		Matthew Walbank
Trinity Bay		Stephen Rendell Won by acclamation		Stephen Rendell
		John Winter Won by acclamation		John Winter
		Frederick Carter Won by acclamation		Frederick Carter
Twillingate and Fogo		William Whiteway Won by acclamation		William Whiteway
		Thomas Knight Won by acclamation		Thomas Knight

Southern Newfoundland

Electoral district	Candidates		Incumbent
	Conservative (historical)
Burgeo and LaPoile		D. W. Prowse Won by acclamation		Hugh Hoyles ‡ (ran in Burin)
Burin		Edward Evans Won by acclamation		Ambrose Shea‡ (ran in Placentia and St. Mary's)
		Hugh Hoyles Won by acclamation		James Rogerson†
Fortune Bay		Robert Carter Won by acclamation		Robert Carter

Notes

1. Not the incumbent, but stood in this district and won.
2. This figure includes the subsequent by-election for Harbour Grace as that district did not initially submit returns due to sectarian violence.
3. The entirety of the Conservative caucus were elected by acclamation. As a consequence of this, the only votes that the government received in this election were through an unsuccessful candidate in the district of Ferryland.
4. If the 1,273 votes cast for the four Liberal candidates in Harbour Main are counted, then the opposition under Kent received a total of 6,457 votes.
5. Including the invalidated results from the district of Harbour Main, a total of 6,876 votes were cast in this election.
6. Kenneth McLea initially ran as a Conservative candidate, but he withdrew prior to election day following mob violence against his business premises.
7. W. P. Taylor initially ran as a Conservative candidate, but he withdrew prior to election day following mob violence against some of his relatives. ^[1]
8. Although Moore would withdraw prior to election day, no return was declared by the returning officer, and the House of Assembly later also determined that nobody had been elected in the district of Harbour Grace. A by-election was held in November 1861 which saw Hayward and Moore elected, both of whom were running as Conservatives.
9. Henry Moore initially ran as a Conservative candidate, but he withdrew prior to election day following a series of riots in Harbour Grace where property belonging to his and Hayward's supporters were damaged by a group of 400 Roman Catholics from Carbonear.
10. Following the violence in Salmon Cove, the 36 voters from Cat's Cove illegally cast their ballots for Furey and Hogsett in Harbour Main. Under pressure from Furey and Hogsett's outraged voters, the returning officer, Patrick Strapp, issued a return declaring them to have been elected, but it was declared invalid by the House of Assembly. After further violence in St. John's, a select committee decreed that Nowlan and Byrne had been elected. The results of the election without the illegal votes in Harbour Main are shown here in italics.
11. Furey and Hogsett had been endorsed by the Roman Catholic clergy of Harbour Main as well as by John Dalton, the Catholic Bishop of Harbour Grace. Byrne and Nowlan ran on a separate ticket without the support of the aforementioned clergy.

References

1. "Carbonear Election". Newfoundland Express. May 9, 1861. Retrieved June 13, 2025.
2. "Special Return". Newfoundland Express. May 9, 1861. Retrieved June 13, 2025.
3. "Result of the contest for the District of Ferryland". Newfoundland Express. May 11, 1861. Retrieved June 13, 2025.

Further reading

• Riggs, Bert (1981). "General Election #8: May 2, 1861". Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, volume 1. St. John's: Harry Cuff Publications Ltd. Retrieved June 11, 2025.
• Webb, Jeff (2001). "The Election Riots of 1861". Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador. Retrieved October 20, 2009.