Charles Tupper

The Right Honourable Sir Charles Tupper was the sixth Prime Minister of Canada.

He was born July 2, 1821 in Amherst, Nova Scotia.

He studied at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, becoming a doctor upon his graduation in 1843. In 1846 he married Frances Morse (1826-1912), with whom he had three sons and three daughters.

He entered Nova Scotia politics in 1855 and became premier in 1864. As a delegate to the Charlottetown, Quebec, and London conferences, Tupper guided his province into Confederation. Sir Charles Tupper's public career was long and successful, though he was Prime Minister of Canada for just 69 days in 1896 -- the shortest term ever. A Father of Confederation[?], he spent more than thirty years in national politics.

He was Canada's High Commissioner to Great Britain from 1884 to 1887.

Charles Tupper later served as one of Sir John A. Macdonald's key lieutenants. In 1895, he returned from service as Canada's representative in Britain to take over the leadership of the Conservative party, replacing Mackenzie Bowell, in whose leadership the party was "dissatisfied".

Tupper led the Conservatives into the 1896 election; however, the question of the educational rights of French-speaking Manitobans turned voters, especially in Quebec, towards the Liberals under Wilfrid Laurier, and Tupper's Conservatives were defeated. He retired from politics in 1901.

Sir Charles Tupper died in Bexleyheath, Kent, England on October 30, 1915 at the age of 94, and was brought home to be buried in St. John's Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

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