Lennox and Addington was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly. It was abolished in 1867, upon the creation of Canada and the province of Ontario.
Boundaries
Lennox and Addington electoral district was located in the eastern area of Canada West. It extended from the Bay of Quinte on the north shore of Lake Ontario north to the Ottawa River.
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.[1] 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.[2]
Lennox and Addington Counties had been an electoral district in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada.[3] Their 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, defining the two separate counties of Addington and Lennox (originally called Lenox):
That the eighth of the said counties be hereafter called by the name of the county of Addington; which county is to be bounded on the east by the westernmost line of the county of Frontenac, on the south by lake Ontario, to the westernmost boundary of the late township of Ernestown, and on the west by the easternmost boundary line .of the township of Fredericksburgh, running north thirty-one degrees west until it meets the Ottawa or Grand river, thence descending the said river until it meets the northwesternmost boundary of the county of Frontenac; comprehending within the said county all the islands nearest to it, in the whole or greater part fronting the same.
That the ninth of the said counties be hereafter called by the name of the county of Lenox; which county is to be bounded on the east by the westernmost line of the county of Addington, on the south and west by the bay of Quinte, to the easternmost boundary of the Mohawk village, thence by a line along the westernmost boundary of the late township of Richmond, running north sixteen degrees west to the depth of twelve miles, thence running north seventy-four degrees east until it meets the northwesternmost boundary of the county of Addington; and comprehending all the islands in the bays and nearest to the shores thereof.[4]
The boundaries had been further defined by a statute of Upper Canada in 1798:
That the townships of Ernesttown, Fredericksburgh, Adolphustown, Richmond, Camden (distinguished by being called Camden East,) Amherst Island, and Sheffield, do constitute and form the incorporated Counties of Lenox and Addington.[5]
Since Lennox and Addington were not changed by the Union Act, those boundaries continued to be used for the new electoral district.
Members of the Legislative Assembly
The district of Lennox and Addington was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.[2] The following were the members for Lennox and Addington.
^Proclamation, Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, July 16, 1792; reprinted in Statutes of the Province of Upper Canada; Together with Such British Statutes, Ordinances of Quebec, and Proclamations, as Relate to the Said Province (Kingston: F. M. Hill., 1831) p. 24.
^For 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.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Proclamation, Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, July 16, 1792 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: An act for the better division of this province, SUC 1798, c. 5, s. XX..
