William Henry Chipman

Who was William Henry Chipman?

William Henry Chipman was a Canadian politician and a member of the Canadian House of Commons for the riding of Kings in Nova Scotia.

He was born at Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, the son of Reverend William Chipman and Mary Dickey, in Kings County. Early in his youth he was sent to Saint John, New Brunswick to learn business practices at the firm of Leverett DeVeber. He later worked as a merchant selling general merchandise, holding mortgages on large tracts of land, and loaning money to business ventures. In 1831, Chipman married Sophia Araminta Cogswell.

He was elected to the 1st Canadian Parliament on September 20, 1867 as a member of the Anti-Confederation Party. At the anti-confederate convention of August 1868 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in opposition to Joseph Howe, he proposed that the best way of getting the Confederation repealed would be for all anti-confederate Members of Parliament to offer their resignations. The policy was not accepted, and he continued to sit in the House of Commons. From January 30, 1869 onward he was a member of the Liberal Party. He died on April 9, 1870 in Ottawa from an onset of smallpox.