1847 in Canada

Events from the year 1847 in Canada.

Incumbents

Monarch: Victoria

Federal government

Parliament: 2nd

Governors

Premiers

Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada —
*William Henry Draper, Canada West Premier
*Denis-Benjamin Viger, Canada East Premier

Events

January 30 – Lord Elgin, Governor, arrives at Montreal.
September 1 – Lord Elgin visits the Irish fever sheds at Windmill Point, Montreal, during the typhus epidemic of 1847.
October 18 – Telegraph Line from Quebec to London, Canada West, complete.
October 23 – 65 immigrants die in a week at Pointe St. Charles neighbourhood of Montreal.
November 1 – 9,634 deaths of immigrants since 1 January
November 19 – The railway from Montreal to Lachine is opened.

Full date unknown

St. Lawrence canal system completed. Faster and cheaper than US system, but growing US railroads are now the real threat.
Typhus outbreak as over 3,000 immigrants arrive in Bytown in the height of summer. The Rideau Canal is shut down to prevent further spread of the outbreak. 167 die in quarantine.
Outbreak of measles among the Cayuse of the Pacific Northwest.
Fort Yukon established.

Births

February 25 – John Watson, Canadian philosopher
March 3 – Alexander Graham Bell, scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone
March 12 – George Hope Bertram, politician
April 18 - Oliver Aiken Howland, lawyer and politician, 31st Mayor of Toronto
June 22 – Joseph Bolduc, politician, Speaker of the Senate
July 31 – Samuel Bridgeland, politician
August 3 – John Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair, Governor General of Canada
September 3 – George Eulas Foster, politician and academic
September 8 – Abraham Groves, physician
October 9 – William Anderson Black, politician
November 1 – Emma Albani, soprano
November 3 – George Thomas Baird, politician, Senator for Victoria, New Brunswick
November 11 – Adam Carr Bell, politician, Leader of the Opposition of Nova Scotia
November 16 – Edmund James Flynn, politician and Premier of Quebec
November 24 – Alexander Edmund Batson Davie, politician and 7th Premier of British Columbia
December 10 – John M. Baillie, politician, member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly
December 29 – Alexis-Xyste Bernard, Roman Catholic bishop

Full date unknown

Phoebe Campbell, convicted murderer

Deaths

June 11 – John Franklin, naval officer, Arctic explorer, and author
June 13 – Colin Campbell, army officer and colonial administrator