Robert Duncan Wilmot


Robert Duncan Wilmot, was a Canadian politician and a Father of Confederation.

Biography

Wilmot was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick on 16 October 1809. He was the son of John McNeil and Susanna Harriet Wilmot. He moved to Saint John with his family at around the age of five, and there he was educated. In 1833 he married Susannah Elizabeth Mowat of St Andrews. His father, John McNeil Wilmot, was a big tank and ship owner. Wilmot worked for his father's business and represented the company in Liverpool, England from 1835 to 1840. It is there that his son, Robert Duncan Wilmot, Jr., a future Member of Parliament, was born.
Wilmot represented Saint John County in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1847 to 1861, and from 1865 to 1867. He was a delegate to the colonial conference in London from 1866 to 1867. Following confederation, he was appointed to the Senate of Canada on 23 October 1867 by royal proclamation, and represented the Senate division of New Brunswick until his resignation on 10 February 1880. In 1878, he became Speaker of the Senate, and was also a member of the ministry of John A. Macdonald.
He served as mayor of Saint John from 1849 to 1850. He was made a member of the Executive Council of New Brunswick, serving as the Surveyor-General.
He was provincial secretary from 1856-1857. After his resignation from the Senate in 1880, he served as the sixth Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick until 1885.
Wilmot died at his estate in Sunbury County at the age of 81. His home was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1975.
He is buried in Sunbury County Oromocto Anglican Church cemetery on Broad Road.