Frederick Peters

PETERS, Q.C., FREDERICK, lawyer; b. 8 April 1852 in Charlottetown, son of James Horsfield Peters and Mary Cunard; m. 19 October 1886 Bertha Susan Hamilton Gray, and they had five children, Frederick, Helen, Noel, Gerald, and Jack; Anglican; d. 29 July 1919 in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Peters, a Liberal, was first elected to the House of Assembly in the general election of 1890 for 3rd Queens. He was defeated in the general election of 1882 in Charlottetown Royalty. Peters was elected to the Legislative Assembly in the general election of 1893. He was re-elected in the general election of 1897. Upon the resignation of the Neil McLeod" government, Peters was appointed Premier and Attorney-General in April 1891. In the general election of 1891, Peters was elected by acclamation. He served until 1897, and despite leading the Liberals to victory in the general election of that year, by a margin of 19 seats to 11, Peters moved to British Columbia. He continued to serve as a member in the Prince Edward Island Legislative Assembly until 1900, even though he was no longer a resident. In 1899 the Prince Edward Island Liberals had a small majority government. Determined to maintain it, Premier Farquharson*' tried to convince Peters to return to the Island, to ensure a majority and to buy time, but Peters never returned to the Legislative Assembly. During Peters' term as premier, one of his most significant initiatives was the enactment of a bill to change the Legislature from two houses, the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly, to one house, the Legislative Assembly, in 1893. Premier Peters abolished both Houses and created a Legislative Assembly, in which members served as either Councillors or Assemblymen. Peters received his early schooling in Charlottetown. He attended Prince ofWales College and St. Dunstan's College, before leaving the province to further his education. In 1871 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from King's College in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Later he studied at the Inner Temple and Lincoln's Inn in London, England, and was called to the English Bar in 1876. That same year, he was called to the Bars of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Peters' legal career began in Charlottetown. He tutored William Stewart* in the law, forming a partnership with him. Peters' younger brother Arthur, who served as premier from 1901 to 1908, joined him in the law practice of Peters, Peters and Ings ca. 1887. As well, Albert Saunders'', another future premier, articled with the firm. In 1894 Peters was designated Queen's Counsel, and in 1896 he was appointed as senior counsel for the Canadian government before the Bering Sea Claims Commission. Peters moved to Vancouver in 1897, where he and Sir Charles Hibbert Tupper established the firm of Tupper and Peters, and eventually to Prince Rupert, where he continued his practice. In 1911 he served as the city solicitor for Prince Rupert. Peters also served as president of Prince of Wales College and, in 1896, as the vice-president of the Canadian Bar Association. Frederick Peters died 29 July 1919, outliving his sons Gerald and Jack who were killed in the First World War. Bertha Peters was a daughter of Colonel John Hamilton Gray of Charlottetown, a Father of Confederation. Frederick Peters' father, a native of New Brunswick, was a Prince Edward Island Supreme Court Judge. Peters' mother, a native of Halifax, was the daughter of Sir Samuel Cunard, founder of the Cunard Steamship Line.