Arthur Bunster

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Arthur Bunster

Arthur Bunster (1827 – October 8, 1891) was a Canadian entrepreneur and Member of Parliament.

Bunster was born in Country Queens (now Laois), Ireland. He eventually settled in Victoria, British Columbia. After trying his hand at several other ventures, Bunster purchased the Colonial Brewery in 1859. The brewery was destroyed in a fire and rebuilt, both in 1869.

Bunster, a Liberal, was elected in the two-member Victoria riding in British Columbia’s first provincial election, in 1871. He was initially a candidate for the Vancouver seat (i.e. Vancouver Island, not today's City of Vancouver) in the federal election of 1872. However, Bunster and other local candidates stepped aside so that Minister of Finance Francis Hincks could win the seat by acclamation after he had lost his Ontario seat. Bunster did contest and win the seat in the 1874 federal election. He was re-elected in 1878 but ultimately lost the seat in 1882. Bunster sold the brewery, to the original owners, in the same year. He later moved to San Francisco, where he died in 1891.