Middlesex was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada West (now Ontario). It was created in 1841, upon the establishment of the Province of Canada by the union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada. Middlesex was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly. It was abolished in 1867, upon the creation of Canada and the province of Ontario, and succeeded by three different ridings for both the federal Parliament and the Ontario Legislative Assembly.

Boundaries

Middlesex electoral district was located on the Ontario peninsula, based on Middlesex County. The town of London was the major centre, although it was a separate electoral district, surrounded by Middlesex.

The Union Act, 1840 had merged the two provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada, with a single Parliament. The separate parliaments of Lower Canada and Upper Canada were abolished.Union Act, 1840, 3 & 4 Vict. (UK), c. 35, s. 2. The Union Act provided that the pre-existing electoral boundaries of Upper Canada would continue to be used in the new Parliament, unless altered by the Union Act itself.Union Act, 1840, s. 16.

Middlesex County had been an electoral district in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada.Journal of the House of Assembly of Upper Canada, from the eighth day of November, 1836, to the fourth day of March, 1837, p. 15 (November 8, 1836). Its boundaries were not altered by the Union Act. Those boundaries had originally been set by a proclamation of the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, in 1792, under the name of the County of Suffolk:

The boundaries had been further defined by a statute of Upper Canada in 1798, which renamed Suffolk county to be Middlesex county:

Since Middlesex was not changed by the Union Act, those boundaries continued to be used for the new electoral district.

Members of the Legislative Assembly

Middlesex was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly. The following were the members for Middlesex.

Parliament YearsMembersJ.O. Côté, Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada, 1841 to 1860, (Quebec: St. Michel and Darveau, 1860), pp. 43-58. PartyFor party affiliations, see Paul G. Cornell, Alignment of Political Groups in Canada, 1841-67 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962; reprinted in paperback 2015), pp. 93-111. 1st Parliament1841–1844 Thomas Parke Unionist; moderate Reformer 1841–1844

Notes

Abolition

Middlesex electoral district was abolished on July 1, 1867, when the British North America Act, 1867 came into force, creating Canada and splitting the Province of Canada into Quebec and Ontario.British North America Act, 1867 (now the Constitution Act, 1867), s. 6. It was succeeded by three electoral districts in both the House of Commons of CanadaConstitution Act, 1867, s. 40, para. 2 and the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.Constitution Act, 1867, s. 70.

References