5th General Assembly of Newfoundland

5th General Assembly of Newfoundland
Colonial Building seat of the Newfoundland government and the House of Assembly from January 28, 1850 to July 28, 1959.
History
Founded	1853
Disbanded	1855
Preceded by	4th General Assembly of Newfoundland
Succeeded by	6th General Assembly of Newfoundland
Leadership
Speaker	John Kent
Elections
Last election	1852 Newfoundland general election

The members of the 5th General Assembly of Newfoundland were elected in the Newfoundland general election held in 1852. The general assembly sat from 1853 to 1855.

John Kent was chosen as speaker. ^[1]

Ker Baillie-Hamilton served as civil governor of Newfoundland. ^[2]

Although Baillie-Hamilton was opposed to any change in the colony's system of government, in March 1854, Philip Francis Little and Robert John Parsons, with the support of Joseph Hume, were able to persuade the secretary of state for the colonies, the Duke of Newcastle, to grant responsible government to the colony. ^[2]

Later in 1854, the assembly passed a Representation Act to double the number of seats in the assembly; this satisfied one of the conditions set by Newcastle for implementation of responsible government. ^[3]

Baillie-Hamilton delayed the upcoming general election until May 1855 because he felt that a winter election would be unfair to Protestant voters living in remote areas of the colony. ^[2]

Members of the Assembly

The following members were elected to the assembly in 1852: ^[4]

	Member	Electoral district	Affiliation	First elected / previously elected
	John Henry Warren	Bonavista Bay	Conservative	1852
	Clement Benning	Burin	Liberal	1852
	John Bemister	Conception Bay	Conservative	1852
	Edmund Hanrahan		Liberal	1848
	John Hayward	Conservative	1852
	William Talbot	Liberal	1852
	Peter Winser	Ferryland	Liberal	1848
	George Henry Emerson [nb 1] [4]	Fogo	Conservative	1848
	Hugh William Hoyles	Fortune Bay	Conservative	1848
	George James Hogsett	Placentia and St. Mary's	Liberal	1852
	Ambrose Shea	Liberal	1848
	John Kent	St. John's	Liberal	1832, 1848
	Philip Francis Little		Liberal	1850
	Robert John Parsons	Liberal	1843
	Stephen March	Trinity Bay	Conservative	1852

Notes:

1. By 1854, Emerson had aligned himself with the Liberals, bringing their number to ten.

By-elections

None

References

1. "The Speaker of the House of Assembly". House of Assembly. Archived from the original on 2009-10-13.
2. Jones, Frederick (1982). "Baillie Hamilton, Ker". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography . Vol. XI (1881–1890) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
3. "Shift Towards Responsible Government". Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage. Memorial University.
4. "Elections". Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador . p. 684.