Sir Edmund Walker Head, Bt | |
---|---|
George Theodore Berthon's Sir Edmund Walker Head, 8th Baronet
|
|
Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick | |
In office 1848–1854 |
|
Monarch | Victoria |
Preceded by | William MacBean George Colebrooke |
Succeeded by | John Manners-Sutton, 3rd Viscount Canterbury |
Governor General of the Province of Canada | |
In office 1854–1861 |
|
Monarch | Victoria |
Preceded by | James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin |
Succeeded by | Charles Monck, 4th Viscount Monck |
Personal details | |
Born |
Wiarton Place, near Maidstone, England |
16 February 1805
Died | 28 January 1868 London, England |
(aged 62)
Spouse(s) | Lady Anna Maria Head (née Yorke) |
Sir Edmund Walker Head, 8th Baronet, KCB (16 February 1805 – 28 January 1868) was a 19th-century British politician and diplomat.
He was born at Wiarton Place, near Maidstone, Kent, the son of the Reverend Sir John Head, 7th Bt. and Jane (née Walker) Head. He was educated at Winchester College and Oriel College, Oxford, and in 1830 he was made a Fellow of Merton College. He succeeded to his father's title in 1838. He was an Oxford scholar and tutor who published several books.
He was simultaneously Governor General of the Province of Canada, and Lieutenant Governor of both Canada West and Canada East (1854–1861). He had previously been Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick (1847–1854).
He was appointed a Privy Councillor in 1857, and knighted Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1860. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1863.
In 1866, Head published The Story of Viga Glum, which he had translated from the original Icelandic.
While Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, Head authorized the creation of an engineering faculty at the University of New Brunswick (UNB). This was the first such programme in what would become Canada. In his honour, the buildings housing this faculty at UNB are called Head Hall. The city of Edmundston, New Brunswick, was named after him. In the county of Renfrew, a township of Head was named in his honour. He died in London in 1868.