Henry J. Friel

Who was Henry J. Friel?

Henry James Friel was mayor of Bytown in 1854 and then of Ottawa in 1863 and 1868-1869.

He was born in Montreal of Irish Catholic parents in 1823. His family moved to Bytown, which was later renamed Ottawa, in 1827. In 1846, he purchased the Bytown Packet, a local newspaper, with John George Bell. He sold this paper in 1849; it was eventually to become the Ottawa Citizen. In 1858, he established a new paper, the Ottawa Union; he eventually sold it to a rival paper, the Ottawa Times in 1866.

Friel was elected to Bytown's first town council in 1847. He was defeated the following year, but elected alderman in 1850, 1853 and 1854, when he was elected mayor. He also served on the executive of the Bytown Mechanics' Institute.

The municipality of Bytown became the new city of Ottawa in 1855. Friel was elected alderman there from 1855 to 1858 and in 1864, 1865 and 1867. In 1863, he was a member of the first Board of Police Commissioners for Ottawa. The board, with the aim of avoiding unnecessary expense, originally concluded that there was no need for a salaried police force in the city. However, in May that same year, the militia had to be called in to control a riot in the city.