1873 in Canada

Events from the year 1873 in Canada.

Fandom canada:1873

Incumbents

Crown

Monarch – Victoria

Federal government

Governor General – Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood
Prime Minister – John A. Macdonald then Alexander Mackenzie
Parliament – 2nd

Provincial governments

Lieutenant governors

Premiers

Territorial governments

Lieutenant governors

Lieutenant Governor of the Northwest Territories – Alexander Morris

Events

January to June 1873

February 26 – Gédéon Ouimet becomes Premier of Quebec, replacing Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau.
April 1
*1873 Prince Edward Island general election.
*James Pope becomes Premier of Prince Edward Island for the second time, replacing Robert Haythorne.
*The SS Atlantic is wrecked off Peggys Cove.
April 2 – The Pacific Scandal breaks out.
May 13 – Sixty are killed in a coal mine explosion in Nova Scotia.
May 23 – North-West Mounted Police are founded to police the Northwest Territories, which then included the region today of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
June 1 – The Cypress Hills Massacre occurs.

July to December

July 1 – Prince Edward Island joins the Canadian Confederation.
August 25 – A cyclone hits Cape Breton Island, killing 500 and causing much damage.
September 1 – L. C. Owen becomes Premier of Prince Edward Island, replacing James Pope.
September 23 – The Canadian Labour Union is founded.
November – 1873 Newfoundland general election.
November 5 – Pacific Scandal: the House of Commons of Canada passes a vote of no confidence in Sir John A. Macdonald's government.
November 7 – Pacific Scandal: Sir John A. resigns as Prime Minister of Canada, and Alexander Mackenzie is appointed in his place.
November 8 – Winnipeg incorporated as a city.

Sport

October 4 – The Argonauts Football Club are established

Smallpox

In the opening speech to the 1872-1873 Epidemiological Society conference, Inspector-General Robert Lawson drew attention to the recent prevalence of haemorrhagic forms of smallpox in both the United States and Canada, among other countries. During the smallpox pandemic of 1870-1874, the disease had been carried to America by emigrants, where it had already infected thousands, and killed hundreds in eastern cities such as Boston and New York.

Births

January to June

January 10 – George Orton, middle-distance runner and Olympic gold medallist, first Canadian to win an Olympic medal
January 19 – Thomas Dufferin Pattullo, politician and 22nd Premier of British Columbia
February 4 – Étienne Desmarteau, athlete and Olympic gold medallist
April 9 – Walter Edward Foster, businessman, politician and 16th Premier of New Brunswick
April 10 – George Black, politician
May 12 – J. E. H. MacDonald, artist of the Group of Seven
May 17 – Albert Edward Matthews, 16th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario

July to December

August 27 – Maud Allan, actor, dancer and choreographer
September 20 – Sidney Olcott, film producer, director, actor and screenwriter
October 20 – Nellie McClung, feminist, politician and social activist
November 21 – Aimé Bénard, politician
December 8 – John Duncan MacLean, teacher, physician, politician and Premier of British Columbia
December 9 – George Blewett, academic and philosopher

Full date unknown

Margaret C. MacDonald, nurse

Deaths

May 15 – William James Anderson, physician, amateur geologist and historian
May 20 – George-Étienne Cartier, politician and statesman
May 28 – Thomas Brown Anderson, merchant, banker and politician
June 1 – Joseph Howe, Premier of Nova Scotia
June 28 – Charles Connell, politician
November 21 – James William Johnston, lawyer, politician, and judge
December 9 – William Steeves, politician