15th General Assembly of Newfoundland

The members of the 15th General Assembly of Newfoundland were elected in the Newfoundland general election held in October 1885. The general assembly sat from 1886 to 1889.

15th General Assembly of Newfoundland
Colonial Building seat of the Newfoundland government and the House of Assembly from January 28, 1850, to July 28, 1959.
History
Founded	1886
Disbanded	1889
Preceded by	14th General Assembly of Newfoundland
Succeeded by	16th General Assembly of Newfoundland
Leadership
Premier	Robert Thorburn
Elections
Last election	1885 Newfoundland general election

The Reform Party led by Robert Thorburn formed the government.^[1]

A.J.W. McNeilly was chosen as speaker.^[2]

Sir William Des Vœux served as colonial governor of Newfoundland until 1887.^[3] Sir Henry Arthur Blake succeeded Des Vœux as governor.^[4]

In 1887, the Ballot Act was passed which allowed voting by secret ballot as opposed to the previous system of public oral voting. In 1888, a new Elections Act was passed which defined the required qualifications for candidates for the House of Assembly. In 1889, a new Representation Act was passed which redefined the boundaries of electoral districts.^[5]

Members of the Assembly

The following members were elected to the assembly in 1885:^[5][6]

	Member	Electoral district	Affiliation	First elected / previously elected
	Stephen R. March	Bay de Verde	Reform Party	1885
	Alexander J.W. McNeilly	1885
	James L. Noonan	Bonavista	Reform Party	1869, 1883
	Abram Kean			1885
	Frederick White			1885
	Alfred B. Morine (1886)	1886
	Donald Morison (1888)	1888
	Alexander M. Mackay	Burgeo-La Poile	Reform Party	1878
	John E. Peters	Burin	Reform Party	1882
	Henry LeMessurier	1885
	Alfred Penney	Carbonear	Reform Party	1882
	Daniel J. Greene	Ferryland	Liberal	1878
	George Shea	1885
	James Rolls	Fogo	Reform Party	1885
	Robert Bond	Fortune Bay	Independent	1882
	James S. Winter	Harbour Grace	Reform Party	1873
	Charles Dawe			1878
	Joseph Godden	1885
	John Veitch	Harbour Main	Liberal	1885
	Richard MacDonnell	1882
	James McGrath	Placentia and St. Mary's	Liberal	1885
	William J. S. Donnelly			1878
	George H. Emerson	1885
	George A. Hutchings	Port de Grave	Reform Party	1885
	Albert Bradshaw	St. Barbe	Reform Party	1885
	Michael H. Carty	St. George's	Liberal	1882
	Robert J. Kent	St. John's East	Liberal	1873
	Ambrose Shea			1848, 1874
	Michael J. O'Mara			1885
	Thomas J. Murphy (1886)	1886
	Robert John Parsons, Jr. (1887)	1887
	Edward Morris	St. John's West	Liberal	1885
	Patrick J. Scott			1873
	James J. Callanan	1882
	Robert Thorburn	Trinity	Reform Party	1885
	Walter B. Grieve			1885
	Ellis Watson	1885
	Augustus F. Goodridge	Twillingate	Reform Party	1882
	Smith McKay			1882
	Michael T. Knight	1885

By-elections

By-elections were held to replace members for various reasons:

Electoral district	Member elected	Affiliation	Election date	Reason
Twillingate	Michael T. Knight	Reform Party	June 9, 1886	MT Knight named to cabinet, so was required to run again[5]
Bonavista	Alfred B. Morine	Independent	June 12, 1886	JL Noonan named to cabinet, so was required to run again[5]
Carbonear	Alfred Penney	Reform Party	November 1, 1886	A Penney named to cabinet, so was required to run again[5]
Placentia and St. Mary's	William J. S. Donnelly	Reform Party	November 1, 1886	WJS DOnnelly named to cabinet, so was required to run again[5]
St. John's East	Thomas J. Murphy	Liberal	November 6, 1886	RJ Kent resigned seat[5]
St. John's East	Robert John Parsons, Jr.	Liberal	November 12, 1887	A Shea named governor of the Bahamas[5]
Bonavista	Donald Morison	Reform Party	November 10, 1888[nb 1]	A Kean resigned seat[5]

Notes

1. First by-election for Newfoundland by secret ballot