Head, Sir Edmund Walker

Related Category: Canadian History: Biographies

1805–68, British governor-general of Canada (1854–61), cousin of Sir Francis Bond Head. An Oxford scholar and tutor, he published several books. His success as lieutenant governor of New Brunswick (1848–54) led to his appointment as governor-general of Canada in 1854. He faced difficult problems during his administration, primarily caused by the antagonism between French and British inhabitants, but he retired from office before the political issues that led to confederation (1867) reached a peak.

See biography by D. G. Kerr (1954).