31st General Assembly of Newfoundland

The members of the 31st General Assembly of Newfoundland were elected in the Newfoundland general election held in October 1956.^[1] The general assembly sat from March 19, 1957, to July 28, 1959.^[2]

31st 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	March 19, 1957 (1957-03-19)
Disbanded	July 28, 1959 (1959-07-28)
Preceded by	30th General Assembly of Newfoundland
Succeeded by	32nd General Assembly of Newfoundland
Leadership
Premier	Joey Smallwood
Elections
Last election	1956 Newfoundland general election

The Liberal Party led by Joey Smallwood formed the government.^[3]

John R. Courage served as speaker.^[4]

There were three sessions of the 31st General Assembly:^[2]

Session	Start	End
1st	March 19, 1957	June 12, 1957
2nd	June 20, 1958	September 10, 1958
3rd	February 23, 1959	July 28, 1959

Sir Leonard Outerbridge served as lieutenant governor of Newfoundland until 1957.^[5] Campbell Leonard Macpherson succeeded Outerbridge as lieutenant governor.^[6]

Members of the Assembly

The following members were elected to the assembly in 1956:^[1]

	Member	Electoral district	Party	First elected / previously elected
	Joseph P. O'Driscoll	Bell Island	Liberal	1956
	Joseph R. Smallwood	Bonavista North	Liberal	1949
	Uriah F. Strickland	Bonavista South	Liberal	1956
	John T. Cheeseman	Burgeo and La Poile	Liberal	1956
	Eric S. Jones	Burin	Liberal	1956
	George W. Clarke	Carbonear-Bay de Verde	Liberal	1956
	Myles P. Murray	Ferryland	Liberal	1952
	Isaac Mercer[a]	Fogo	Liberal	1951
	John R. Courage	Fortune Bay and Hermitage	Liberal	1949
	Beaton J. Abbott	Gander	Liberal	1956
	Edward S. Spencer	Grand Falls	Liberal	1949
	William R. Smallwood	Green Bay	Liberal	1956
	Claude A. Sheppard	Harbour Grace	Liberal	1956
	Philip J. Lewis	Harbour Main	Liberal	1951
	Matthew P. Whelan	1956
	John A. Forsey	Humber East	Liberal	1956
	Charles H. Ballam	Humber West	Liberal	1949
	Earl W. Winsor	Labrador North	Liberal	1956
	George Sellars[a]	Labrador South	Liberal	1956
	Patrick J. Canning[a]	Placentia West	Liberal	1949
	Stephen K. Smith	Port au Port	Liberal	1956
	Llewellyn Strange	Port de Grave	Liberal	1956
	James R. Chalker	St. Barbe	Liberal	1949
	William J. Keough	St. George's	Liberal	1949
	Augustine M. Duffy	St. John's Centre	Progressive Conservative	1951,[b] 1956
	James D. Higgins	St. John's East	Progressive Conservative	1949
	George M. Nightingale	St. John's North	Liberal	1956
	William J. Browne	St. John's South	Progressive Conservative	1954
	Rex Renouf (1957)	1957
	Malcolm M. Hollett[a]	St. John's West	Progressive Conservative	1952
	James M. McGrath	St. Mary's	Liberal	1956
	Arthur S. Mifflin	Trinity North	Liberal	1956
	Samuel J. Hefferton	Trinity South	Liberal	1949
	Leslie R. Curtis[a]	Twillingate	Liberal	1949
	C. Maxwell Lane	White Bay North	Liberal	1956
	Frederick W. Rowe	White Bay South	Liberal	1952

By-elections

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

Electoral district	Member elected	Affiliation	Election date	Reason
St. John's South	Rex Renouf[a]	Progressive Conservative	June 18, 1957	W J Browne resigned in 1957 to run for federal seat[1]

Notes

1. Elected by acclamation
2. Ferryland