1865 Newfoundland general election

1865 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   Opp. Leader Frederick Carter Thomas Glen Party Conservative Opposition Leader since 1865 1865 Leader's seat Burin [a] Ferryland Last election 16 [b] 14 [b] Seats won 22 8 Seat change 6 6 Popular vote 8,344 [c] 6,713 [c] Percentage 55.42% 44.58% Swing 53.92% 47.94%
Premier before election Frederick Carter Conservative Premier after election Frederick Carter Conservative

The 1865 Newfoundland general election was held on November 7, 1865 to elect members of the 9th General Assembly of Newfoundland in the Newfoundland Colony. The Conservative Party led by Frederick Carter formed the government. Following the resignation of premier Hugh Hoyles, Carter took office and successfully negotiated a coalition government with several members of the Liberal Party, including leader of the opposition Ambrose Shea. Carter and Shea both endorsed Newfoundland's Confederation with Canada following their attendance as observers of the 1864 Quebec Conference. The opposition to the Carter-Shea coalition was disorganized and loosely led by former Receiver General Thomas Glen. ^[1]

Results

	Party	Leader	1861	Candidates	Seats won	Seat change	% of seats (% change)	Popular vote [c]	% of vote (% change)
	Conservative (Coalition)	Frederick Carter	16 [b]	22	22	6	73.33% (20.00%)	8,344 [d]	55.42% (53.92%)
	Opposition	Thomas Glen	14 [b] [e]	20	8	6	26.67% (20.00%)	6,713 [f]	44.58% (47.94%)
Totals			30	42	30		100%	15,057 [g]	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.

St. John's

Electoral district	Candidates				Incumbent
	Conservative (historical)		Liberal (historical)
St. John's East [2]		John Kent 1,310 29.00%		John Kavanagh 1,409 31.19%		John Kavanagh
				Robert Parsons 1,283 28.40%		Robert Parsons
				Michael Power 515 11.40%		John Kent
St. John's West		John Casey Won by acclamation		Thomas Talbot Won by acclamation		John Casey
				Henry Renouf Won by acclamation		Thomas Talbot
						Henry Renouf

Conception Bay

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
	Conservative (historical)		Liberal (historical)		Other
Bay de Verde		John Bemister Won by acclamation						John Bemister
Carbonear		John Rorke Won by acclamation						John Rorke
Harbour Grace [h] [3]		John Hayward At least 300 votes		James Prendergast At least 80 votes				John Hayward
		William Green At least 260 votes						Henry Moore†
Harbour Main [2]				George Hogsett 476 33.03%		Patrick Nowlan (Independent Opposition) [i] 274 19.01%		Thomas Byrne†
				Charles Furey 476 33.03%		? Ezekiel (Independent Opposition) [i] 215 14.92%		Patrick Nowlan
Port de Grave		John Leamon Won by acclamation						John Leamon

Avalon Peninsula

Electoral district	Candidates				Incumbent
	Conservative (historical)		Liberal (historical)
Ferryland				Thomas Glen Won by acclamation		Edward Shea†
				Michael Kearney Won by acclamation		Thomas Glen
Placentia and St. Mary's [4]		Ambrose Shea 628 27.99%		James Croucher [5] 385 17.16%		Ambrose Shea
		Pierce Barron 562 25.04%		? English 216 9.63%		Pierce Barron
		Thomas O'Reilly 453 20.19%				Richard McGrath†

Eastern and Central Newfoundland

Electoral district	Candidates				Incumbent
	Conservative (historical)		Liberal (historical)
Bonavista Bay [6]		John Warren 412 28.51%		? Emerson 283 19.58%		John Warren
		John Oakley 398 27.54%				Matthew Walbank†
		John Burton 352 24.36%				Stephen March‡ (ran in Trinity Bay)
Trinity Bay [4]		Stephen Rendell 788 28.38%		James Verge [7] 315 11.34%		Stephen Rendell
		Frederick Wyatt 755 27.19%		Jabez Tilley [7] 207 7.45%		Frederick Carter ‡ (ran in Burin)
		Stephen March 712 25.64%				John Winter†
Twillingate and Fogo [4]		Thomas Knight 558 36.66%		John Mortimer [8] 392 25.76%		William Whiteway
		William Whiteway 512 33.64%		William Boag [9] ~60 ~3.94%		Thomas Knight

Southern Newfoundland

Electoral district	Candidates				Incumbent
	Conservative (historical)		Liberal (historical)
Burgeo and LaPoile		D. W. Prowse Won by acclamation				D. W. Prowse
Burin [10]		Edward Evans 458 41.22%		Patrick Morris [11] 207 18.63%		Edward Evans
		Frederick Carter 446 40.14%				Hugh Hoyles†
Fortune Bay		Thomas Bennett 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. Note that this does not include the vote totals for the district of Harbour Grace as the full results of that contest are not available.
4. Given that the coalition condidates received at least 560 votes in the district of Harbour Grace, it is evident that Carter's administration received a minimum of 8,904 votes.
5. As the Liberal Party
6. Given that the opposition condidate received at least 80 votes in the district of Harbour Grace, it is evident that the opposition to Carter's administration received a minimum of 6,793 votes.
7. Given that at least 620 votes were cast in the district of Harbour Grace, it is evident that a minimum of 15,677 votes were cast in this election.
8. Full results are not available for this district.
9. Nowlan and Ezekiel were also considered members of the opposition party rather than allies of Carter's government.

References

1. Riggs, Bert (1984). "Glen, Thomas". Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, volume 2. St. John's: Harry Cuff Publications Ltd. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
2. "Election Returns". Morning Courier. 15 November 1865. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
3. "From the Daily News of yesterday". Morning Chronicle. 14 November 1865. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
4. "The Elections". Morning Courier. 22 November 1865. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
5. "Several New Aspirants". Morning Courier. 25 October 1865. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
6. "From the Telegraph of yesterday". Morning Chronicle. 7 December 1865. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
7. "For the Times". Times and General Commercial Gazette. 11 November 1865. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
8. "By Late Intelligence from Twillingate". Morning Chronicle. 12 October 1865. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
9. "To the Independent Electors of the District of Twillingate and Fogo". Morning Chronicle. 15 September 1865. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
10. "Returns for Burin". Morning Chronicle. 16 November 1865. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
11. "Candidates". Times and General Commercial Gazette. 11 November 1865. Retrieved 11 June 2025.

Further reading

• Riggs, Bert (1981). "General Election #9: November 7, 1865". Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, volume 1. St. John's: Harry Cuff Publications Ltd. Retrieved 11 June 2025.