4th General Assembly of Newfoundland

4th General Assembly of Newfoundland
Colonial Building, the seat of the Newfoundland government and the House of Assembly from January 28, 1850, to July 28, 1959.
History
Founded	1848
Disbanded	1853
Preceded by	3rd General Assembly of Newfoundland
Succeeded by	5th General Assembly of Newfoundland
Leadership
Speaker	John Kent
Elections
Last election	1848 Newfoundland general election

The members of the 4th General Assembly of Newfoundland were elected in the Newfoundland general election held in 1848. The general assembly sat from December 14, 1848, ^[1] to 1852.

With the passing of the Government of Newfoundland Act 1847 (10 & 11 Vict. c. 44) by the British Parliament, ^[2] the members of the Legislative Council once again sat separately from the assembly, ending the experiment with unicameralism started in 1842. ^[3] The first session of the assembly was held in a building owned by a member of the legislature. ^[4] For the second session which started in 1850, the assembly met in the newly constructed Colonial Building. ^[5]

John Kent was chosen as speaker. ^[6]

Sir John Le Marchant served as civil governor of Newfoundland. ^[7]

Members of the Assembly

The following members were elected to the assembly in 1848: ^{[1] [8]}

	Member	Electoral district	Affiliation [9]	First elected / previously elected
	Robert Carter	Bonavista Bay	Conservative	1842
	Joshua George Falle	Burin	Conservative	1848
	James Luke Prendergast	Conception Bay	Liberal	1848
	Edmund Hanrahan		Liberal	1848
	Nicholas Molloy	Liberal	1848
	Richard Rankin	Conservative	1848
	Peter Winser	Ferryland	Liberal	1848
	George Henry Emerson	Fogo	Conservative	1848
	Hugh William Hoyles	Fortune Bay	Conservative	1848
	Ambrose Shea	Placentia and St. Mary's	Liberal	1848
	John Delaney	Liberal	1848
	John Kent	St. John's	Liberal	1832, 1848
	Laurence O'Brien		Liberal	1840
	Robert John Parsons	Liberal	1843
	Philip Francis Little (1850)	Liberal	1850
	Thomas Bulley Job	Trinity Bay	Conservative	1846

By-elections

By-elections were held to replace members for various reasons:

Electoral district	Member elected	Affiliation	Election date	Reason
St. John's	Philip Francis Little	Liberal	1850	L O'Brien named to Council 1850 [9]

References

1. Journal of the General Assembly of Newfoundland : anno duodecimo Victoria Regina : first session of the fourth House of Assembly. E D Shea. 1848.
2. Rowe, F. W. "Newfoundland Acts". The Canadian Encyclopedia .
3. "Government Structure, 1832-1855". Newfoundland Heritage. Memorial University.
4. "The Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly". Canadian Parliamentary Review. 34 (3). 2011.
5. "History of the House of Assembly". House of Assembly.
6. "The Speaker of the House of Assembly". House of Assembly. Archived from the original on 2009-10-13.
7. Hayne, David, ed. (1972). "Le Marchant, Sir John Gaspard". Dictionary of Canadian Biography . Vol. X (1871–1880) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
8. "Roll of Members, 4th General Assembly" (PDF). House of Assembly Newfoundland and Labrador . Retrieved 2025-03-21.
9. "Elections". Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador . p. 684.