Thomas Coffin

Who was Thomas Coffin?

Thomas Coffin, PC was a Canadian businessman and politician.

He was born in Barrington, Shelburne County, Nova Scotia in 1817. He owned a general store and with his brother and other partners operated a sawmill and shipbuilding yard on the Clyde River from 1854 until late in the 1870s. In 1855, he was named a justice of the peace and he served as school commissioner in Shelburne County and the Barrington district. He represented Shelburne County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly as a Reformer from 1851 to 1855 and as a Liberal from 1859 until Confederation. In 1867, he was elected to the 1st Canadian Parliament representing the riding of Shelburne as a Liberal-Conservative supporter of Sir John A. Macdonald. He was re-elected in 1872 and crossed the floor the next year to join the Liberal Party of Canada. He was re-elected 1874 and defeated in 1878. From 1873 to 1878, he was the Receiver General. He died in Barrington in 1890.