40 Facts About Dominick Daly

Sir Dominick Daly was a British colonial public servant and administrator during the 19th century, who held positions in British North America, Tobago and South Australia.

Dominick Daly eventually became the provincial secretary of Lower Canada, a member of the Special Council which governed Lower Canada following the Lower Canada Rebellion, and a member of the Legislative Assembly and provincial secretary of the Province of Canada.

Dominick Daly then became part of a three-man council, advising the Governor General, Sir Charles Metcalfe.

Dominick Daly was dismissed from office when the Reformers were returned to power under Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin in 1848.

Dominick Daly then served as the Governor of Tobago from 1851 to 1852, followed by appointment as Governor of Prince Edward Island from 1854 to 1859.

Dominick Daly combined an aptitude for public affairs and diligence in his work, along with personal charm and affability.

Dominick Daly was born in Ardfry, County Galway, Ireland in 1798, the son of Dominic Dominick Daly senior and Joanna Harriet Blake.

Dominick Daly's mother was the sister of Joseph Blake, 1st Baron Wallscourt, and had previously been married to Richard Burke of Glinsk, who was a member of the family of Burke baronets.

Dominick Daly had two sons from her first marriage, John Burke and Joseph Burke.

The Dalys were Roman Catholics and Dominick studied at St Mary's College, Oscott in Birmingham.

One of their sons, Malachy Bowes Dominick Daly, became a lawyer in Nova Scotia.

Dominick Daly entered federal politics and was a Cabinet minister in Sir John A Macdonald's ministry, and later was appointed the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.

Dominick Daly then acquired the position of private secretary to Sir Francis Nathaniel Burton, Lieutenant Governor of Lower Canada, who was from an Irish family with political connections.

Dominick Daly was a diligent worker and earned Burton's approval, to the point that Burton ensured Dominick Daly's appointment as provincial secretary for Lower Canada in 1827, even though Burton by then had left Lower Canada on indefinite leave.

Dominick Daly was active in civil life, participating on various civil committees.

Dominick Daly expressed some sympathies for the concerns of the nationalists, but never took any formal position on the constitutional and political issues which underlay the Rebellion.

When Durham arrived, Dominick Daly was one of the few public servants in Lower Canada whom Lord Durham kept on in office, including appointing him to the Executive Council of Lower Canada in June, 1838.

Dominick Daly worked closely with Lord Durham's advisors, particularly Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who was involved in the drafting of Lord Durham's Report.

Dominick Daly was succeeded as Governor General by Charles Thomson, later Lord Sydenham.

Dominick Daly was elected without opposition as a supporter of the union, and Sydenham then appointed Dominick Daly as appointed provincial secretary of Canada East and a member of the Executive Council of the Province of Canada.

Dominick Daly applied himself with his normal diligence and considered that his role was to give advice in Council based on his long experience in government.

Dominick Daly was defended in the Assembly by Wakefield, who increasingly was moving from the French-Canadian Group to the group of supporters of the governor.

The Assembly committee exonerated Dominick Daly, but the proceedings hinted that there was a rift within the Executive Council.

However, it appears that for the first time in his long career, Dominick Daly had been forced to assess his own political views.

Dominick Daly considered himself to be a non-political public servant.

Dominick Daly had been re-elected in Megantick as a supporter of the governor, and Metcalfe kept him in the Executive Council.

In March 1845, Dominick Daly was challenged to a duel by Reformer Thomas Cushing Aylwin over Dominick Daly's refusal to resign in 1843; shots were fired but no one was injured.

Dominick Daly had been re-elected in the Megantick riding, but resigned along with the rest of the outgoing members of the defeated government.

Elgin pointed out that Dominick Daly had been required to enter the political arena by Governor-General Sydenham, thereby risking his position as a public servant.

Dominick Daly had stood by Governor-General Metcalfe in his dispute with the Reformers, which had led to his dismissal from the Council.

Dominick Daly's lobbying efforts were unsuccessful, and the Colonial Secretary refused to give him any position.

In 1854, Dominick Daly was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island, the first Catholic governor on the Island.

Dominick Daly was a popular governor generally, although the Conservatives, who were mainly Protestants, distrusted him, while the Catholic Liberals generally got along with him.

Dominick Daly's daughter Caroline was an accomplished amateur painter, using water-colours.

In October 1861, Dominick Daly was appointed the Governor of South Australia, becoming the first Catholic governor in Australia, notably in a colony with a smaller proportion of Catholics amongst its population than any other of the Australian provinces.

Dominick Daly began to show effects of anaemia in the last months of his life.

Dominick Daly died in office just after noon on 19 February 1868 in Adelaide after unexpectedly falling ill that morning.

Dominick Daly was reported as being in failing health prior to his sudden illness.

Dominick Daly's wife outlived Daly by four years, in spite of a stroke which left her paralysed.

Dominick Daly died at Glenelg, South Australia, on 16 July, 1872.