Edward Gawler Prior

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Edward Gawler Prior, PC (Dallowgill near Ripon, England May 21, 1853 or 1854 – December 12, 1920 Victoria, British Columbia) was a mining engineer and politician in British Columbia. Prior worked as a mining engineer in England until 1873 when he moved to the province where he settled in Nanaimo and took employment as assistant manager of the Vancouver Coal Mining & Land Co., Ltd. In 1878 he resigned and was appointed Inspector of Mines for the British Columbia government. He left that position and went into business as an iron and hardware merchant in 1880.

Prior was first elected to the provincial legislature in 1886. In 1888, Prior won a seat in the Canadian House of Commons as a Conservative. From December 1895 to July 1896 and 1897 Prior served as Controller of Inland Revenue in the cabinets of Prime Minister Sir Mackenzie Bowell and his successor Sir Charles Tupper.

He lost his seat in 1901 due to violations of election rules. He moved to provincial politics and was elected to the British Columbia legislature in 1901 becoming minister of mines. In 1902 he became Premier leading the province's last non-partisan administration but was dismissed by the lieutenant-governor in 1903 due to charges of conflict of interest that involved giving an important construction contract to his own hardware business, and lost his seat in the 1904 provincial election. He was also defeated that year in an attempt to return to the federal House of Commons.

Prior was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia in 1919 but became ill and died in office within a year of his appointment. Edward Gawler Prior is interred in the Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria, British Columbia.

Prior was the last Canadian premier to be dismissed by a lieutenant-governor.

[edit] Sources

• University of Victoria, BC History Edward Gawler Prior

[edit] External links

• Federal Political Biography from the Library of Parliament

Parliament of Canada
Preceded by Noah Shakespeare	Member of Parliament from Victoria 1888-1901	Succeeded by George Riley
Political offices
Preceded by John Fisher Wood	Controller of Inland Revenue 1895-1896	Succeeded by Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière
Preceded by James Dunsmuir	Premier of British Columbia 1902-1903	Succeeded by Richard McBride
Government offices
Preceded by Frank Stillmann Barnard	Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia 1919-1920	Succeeded by Walter Cameron Nichol