Sir Francis Hincks,
PC (
December 14, 1807 –
August 18, 1885) was a
Canadian politician.
Born in
Cork, Ireland as the son of a
Presbyterian minister, he came to York (
Toronto) in 1832 and set up an importing business there. He rented property from
William Warren Baldwin and his son,
Robert Baldwin, becoming friends with the family. He accepted a job as manager for the
Farmer's Bank but became manager of the newly-formed
Bank of the People after the management of the Farmers' Bank became dominated by Tories. When even moderate reformers were being persecuted following the
Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837, Hincks considered moving to the
United States. However, the appointment of
Lord Durham in 1838 provided new hope and he chose to continue in Upper Canada. He established
The Examiner in Toronto, with the aim of promoting
responsible government; this newspaper merged with the
Globe, the predecessor of the
Globe and Mail, in 1855.
He was elected to the
1st Parliament of United Canada in 1841, representing
Oxford County. In 1842, Hincks was appointed inspector general of public accounts. In 1844, he became editor of a new newspaper in
Montreal, the
Pilot, which supported
Reformers in both
Canada East and
Canada West. Because he sought subscriptions for his paper in Canada West, he came into conflict with
George Brown, editor of the
Globe. In 1848, he sold the paper and accepted the post of inspector general. He was
Premier of the Province of Canada from
1851 to
1854. Hincks' vision of a railroad linking British North America led to the establishment of the
Grand Trunk Railway in 1852 and he helped negotiated the
Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 with the United States. A scandal developed in 1854 as a result of profits made by Hincks and Mayor
John George Bowes of Toronto from the sale of railway stock and the government fell as a result; when this matter was reviewed in the next parliament, no basis was found for allegations of corruption against Hincks.
In 1856, he accepted an appointment as governor of
Barbados and the
Windward Islands, and, in 1861, became governor of
British Guiana.
He was knighted in 1869. On his return to Canada, he was
Minister of Finance from
1869 until
1874. In 1878, he represented the federal government on the Ontario-Manitoba boundary commission.
He was also an editor of the
Toronto Express newspaper. He died in
Montreal of
smallpox in 1885.
